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The 
Science  of  Happiness 


By 

Jean   Finot 

Member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Lisbon,  of  the  Academy 

of  Sciences  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  of  the  Academy  of 

Coimbra,  etc.,   etc. 

Author  of  "Problems  of  the  Sexes,"  etc. 


Translated  from  the  Tenth  French  Edition  by 

Mary  J.  Saflford 

{Crowned  by  the  French  Academy) 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

tTbe    1knicf?erbocfter    press 

1914 


W 


Copyright,  1914 

BY 

G.  p.  PUTNAM'S    SONS 


Ubc  •RntcfterbocRer  pvcse,  flew  Ifiorft 


,  To  MY   VERY   DEAR  FRIENDS 

r     ■  Marquis  and  Marquise 

PAULUCCI   DI    CALBOLI 

AFFECTIONATELY 

t^  J.F. 


"> 


0 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction       .         .         .         .         .         .        i 

CHAPTER 

I. — A  Science  of  Happiness — Is  Such  a 

Thing  a  Possibility  ?  .         .         .         8 

II. — Happiness  Is  within  Us   .         .  .26 

III. — Optimism  and  Pessimism    ...       48 

IV. — Among  the  Unfortunate          .  .     109 

A.  In  the  Kingdom  of  Envy  .     109 

B.  The  Benefits  of  Sorrow  .     122 

C.  Prejudice  of  Wealth     .  -135 
V. — Happiness  for  All  .         .         .  .158 

A.  Happiness  through  Goodness     158 

B.  The  Affections  as  Sources  of 

Happiness    .         .         .         .176 

C.  The  Active  Life  and  Happiness  198 
D:  Happiness  Accessible  to  All  205 
E.    Religion   and    Religiousness    230 


vi  Contents 

CHAPTER  ^^^« 

VI. — ^A  Few  Catechisms  of  Happiness  .  272 

VII. — ^The  Morality  of  Happiness    .  .  292 

Vni. — ^What  Is  Happiness  ?         .         .  .  312 

Conclusion       .        .        .        .  •  326 


The  Science  of  Happiness 


The  Science  of  Happiness 


INTRODUCTION 

I 

JVyiAN  through  repeated  humihation  has  lost 
^^  ^  faith  in  his  star,  and  has  been  rendered 
powerless  and  wretched.  Often  he  is  unduly 
unhappy,  because  he  has  been  told  that  he  is 
miserable.  So  many  maladies  have  been  sug- 
gested to  him  that  he  tosses  in  pain  upon  his 
bed,  as  if  he  were  really  ill. 

He  has  been  led  to  believe  that  he  cannot  live 
beyond  the  age  of  eighty  years,  that  he  can 
develop  only  by  exterminating  his  fellow-creatures 
or  by  laying  down  his  life  for  them.  He  has  been 
taught  the  prejudices  of  race,  of  religion,  of  riches. 
As  a  result  man  dies  before  his  time,  lives  in  a 
state  of  permanent  warfare,  hates  his  brother, 
creates  around  himself  an  atmosphere  of  envy, 
and  suffers  from  the  wounds  that  are  thus  inflicted. 


2  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Man  is  so  accustomed  to  hearing  his  misfortunes 
discussed  that  it  is  very  difficult  for  him  to  listen 
to  those  who  speak  to  him  of  his  happiness.  His 
philosophy  is  mournful,  as  well  as  his  morality,  his 
poetry,  his  literature,  and  especially  his  history. 
He  has  been  painted  in  such  gloomy  hues  that  he 
believes  the  brighter  portraits  to  be  inferior  in 
their  essence.  He  does  not  seem  to  understand 
that  it  is  much  easier  to  colour  things  black,  just 
as  it  is  easier  to  do  evil  than  to  do  good. 

But  man  is  full  of  contradictions.  He  desires 
long  life  and  he  yearns  for  happiness ;  yet  in  reality 
he  lives  only  a  small  portion  of  his  existence  and 
patiently  sustains  himself  upon  woes  which  he  cre- 
ates of  his  own  free  will  or  permits  others  to  impose. 

We  shall  never  be  able  to  do  enough  to  combat 
these  tendencies,  which  are  so  harmful  to  our 
destinies.  "Conflict  is  noble,  and  hope  is  sub- 
lime,*' to  use  the  words  of  Plato.  So  let  us  enter 
upon  a  battle  for  our  happiness,  a  battle  that  is 
now  more  necessary  than  ever.  A  transformed 
society  requires  different  thoughts  for  its  guidance. 
The  people  should  not  only  possess  sovereign  power, 
but  their  life  and  their  virtues  should  also  become 
sovereign.  It  is  high  time  to  restore  to  the  people 
their  happiness,  just  as  their  political  rights  have 
been  redeemed.     We  are  wrong  to  give  our  compre- 


Introd-uction  3 

hension  of  life  the  same  immobility  that  ancient 
Egypt  bestowed  upon  her  gods.  The  time  has 
come  for  the  reshaping  of  our  ideas  of  goodness, 
longing,  sorrow,  as  well  as  of  happiness. 

But  let  us  reassure  disenchanted  souls.  We  are 
not  members  of  the  Pangloss  family,  who  believe 
that  everything  is  for  the  best  in  this  best  of 
worlds.  Our  greatness  presupposes  our  woes. 
But  these  are  not  life,  nor  do  they  make  man. 
Everything  depends  upon  the  angle  from  which 
they  are  beheld.  Democritus  laughed,  and  Hera- 
clitus  wept  over  the  vices  of  men,  for  all  our 
acts  seem  comical  to  some,  tragical  to  others. 
The  best  course  is  to  apply  them  all  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  our  happiness.  After  all,  if  we  con- 
sider man  happier  than  he  really  is,  perhaps  some 
additional  happiness  will  follow.  But  misfortune, 
in  any  case,  will  have  gained  nothing. 

The  reader  will  pardon  the  preceding  explana- 
tion. It  is  not  out  of  place.  Men  may  be  sad- 
dened with  impunity,  but  even  the  desire  to  throw 
the  windows  wide  open  for  the  entrance  of  warmth 
and  light  is  beginning  to  be  regarded  as  dangerous. 

II 

Let  no  one  be  repelled  by  the  word  science. 
There  is  science  and  science.     The  science  referred 


4  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

to  in  the  title  of  this  volume  is  full  of  tenderness. 
It  is  free  from  dogmatism  and  contains  no  impera- 
tive. Like  the  ancient  Peripatetics,  who  taught 
in  the  form  of  off-hand  conversations,  it  will  strive 
to  disengage  precepts  from  facts,  as  the  bees 
draw  the  honey  from  the  flowers.  Among  so 
many  useless  sciences,  it  will  at  least  possess  the 
merit  of  dealing  with  the  essential  concerns  of 
the  entire  human  race.  Let  us  hope  that,  on  this 
account,  many  things  will  be  forgiven. 

Reduced  to  the  questions  which  are  in  the  power 
of  us  all,  the  Science  of  Happiness  would  deserve 
to  be  constructed  by  all  men.  An  optimistic 
science,  it  must  be  founded  by  the  combined  efforts 
of  all  who  will  become  its  beneficiaries  and  its 
artisans.  Advantageous  and  charitable,  perhaps 
it  will  play  in  the  society  of  the  future  the  part 
assumed  by  the  "domestic  philosophers"  among 
the  wealthy  Romans. 

There  is  something  touching  in  the  almost 
divine  mission  which  the  majority  of  the  subtle 
thinkers  of  Greece  accomplished  for  Rome.  They 
softened  the  vexations  of  existence,  preached 
calmness  of  soul  and  the  joys  of  Hving.  While 
reading  Seneca  and  Tacitus,  we  are  pleasantly 
impressed  by  the  details  they  furnish  concerning 
these  ingenious  comforters.     They  knew  how  to 


Introdviction  5 

render  death  desirable  and  misfortune  attractive. 
Canus  Julius  goes  to  execution  accompanied  by 
his  philosopher.  Livy,  after  the  death  of  his  son 
Drusus,  seeks  in  conversations  with  Areus  solace 
for  his  grief-stricken  soul.  Minucius  suffers 
horribly  at  seeing  the  Emperor's  favours  turned 
from  him,  but  Caecilius  knows  how  to  convince 
him  that  heaven  is  in  this  guise  sending  to  him 
unexpected  happiness. 

The  rich  had  their  philosophers  as  modern 
society  women  have  their  regular  confessors. 
But  the  philosophers  were  only  in  the  pay  of  the 
wealthy,  and  the  confessors,  alas!  have  lost  their 
curative  virtues.  Perhaps  the  Scieyice  of  Happi- 
ness will  be  able  to  replace  both,  and  become  the 
vivifying  spring  which  all  souls  thirsting  for  relief 
will  approach  to  drink. 

Ill 

Personal  ambition  holds  no  place  in  these  pages. 
The  author's  merit — if  merit  he  has — does  not 
extend  beyond  that  of  striking  the  hour  of  assembly 
for  the  mutual  work.  By  way  of  contribution, 
we  will  offer  a  few  bricks  for  the  future  edifice. 
Perhaps,  some  day,  they  will  be  rejected  as  useless. 
What  does  that  matter!  The  author  will  console 
himself.     The  certainty  that  others  will  triumph 


6  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

where  he  failed  will  henceforth  reward  him  for 
his  defeat. 

The  Science  of  Happiness  promises  much.  It 
will  perform  still  more.  It  will  be  a  delightful 
science,  filled  with  the  flowers  of  experience  and, 
above  all,  with  the  smiles  of  happy  mortals. 
Tears,  our  inevitable  companions  on  this  earth, 
will  doubtless  also  appear.  But  they  will  be 
quiet  tears,  freed  from  individual  bitterness,  in 
order  to  be  of  service  to  our  fellow-men. 

Pre-eminently  an  altruistic  science,  it  will  bear 
all  the  residuum  of  selfishness,  of  pleasure,  and  of 
personal  troubles  toward  the  great  river  of  general 
felicity. 

A  charming  science,  animated  by  indulgent 
kindness,  it  will  envelop,  as  if  in  a  radiant  atmo- 
sphere, the  terrible  things  of  life:  poverty  and 
death  itself. 

It  is  an  attractive  science,  being  devoid  of 
formulas. 

It  is  a  free  science,  liberated  from  all  the  morose 
fetters  that  hamper  enthusiasm.  It  will  also  be  a 
science  of  equality,  and  will  salute  with  the  same 
contagious  good-will  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
strong  and  the  weak,  the  famous  and  the  obscure. 

In  behalf  of  all,  of  the  life  of  all,  it  will  strive  to 
release  the  soul  of  goodness  from  evil  things,  the 


Introdxjiction  7 

smile  of  happiness  from  the  wry  faces  of  life.  In 
its  presence,  everything  will  harmonize  in  pursuit 
of  the  same  object:  to  simplify,  to  increase,  and 
to  diffuse  happiness  upon  the  earth.  In  the  midst 
of  the  deafening  uproar  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  the 
many  dissonances  that  separate  man  and  men, 
it  will  endeavour  to  find  the  celestial  bond  which, 
through  the  soul  and  the  union  of  souls,  unites 
all  mortals  for  happiness. 

To  both  the  lowly  and  the  lofty  ones  of  earth, 
this  divine  science  will  sing  of  the  beauty  and  the 
power  of  the  treasure  placed  within  them- 
selves, far  from  all  attack.  It  will  demonstrate  that, 
while  running  after  things  that  are  often  illusive, 
and  almost  always  inaccessible,  the  pursuer  for- 
gets to  pluck  the  deHciousfruits  that  adorn  the  road. 

Weary  of  our  unrealisable  desires,  a  prey  to 
phantoms  which  attract  us  and  then  vanish  cruelly 
at  our  approach,  we  shall  perceive  sources  of 
happiness  which  with  the  utmost  sweetness  offer 
themselves  to  the  poorest,  most  neglected,  most 
unfortunate  beings  in  the  world. 

Jean  Finot. 


A  SCIENCE  OF  HAPPINESS. — IS  SUCH  A  THING  A 
POSSIBILITY? 

I.  During  all  the  time  that  man  has  laughed 
or  wept  upon  this  earth,  he  has  felt  the  stirring  of 
the  same  longing.  Before  him,  as  the  ultimate 
goal,  ever  remains  the  ideal  of  happiness,  the 
supreme  crown  of  all  the  efforts  of  his  life.  Sublime 
in  his  disinterestedness,  or  repulsive  in  his  egotism, 
man  does  not  cease  to  regard  the  problem  of 
happiness  as  the  principal  subject  of  his  dreams 
and  of  his  thoughts.  Variations  occur  only  in 
his  comprehension;  for,  as  the  lover  of  pleasure 
will  seek  to  enrich  himself  to  satisfy  the  appetites 
of  his  body  and  of  his  soul,  the  ascetic  will  strive 
to  retire  from  the  world  to  obtain  in  his  solitude 
the  happiness  for  which  he  has  an  equal  thirst. 
He  understands  it  in  a  different  way,  but  he  desires 
it  no  less  eagerly.  Consciously  or  unconsciously, 
the    pleasure-lover    and    the    ascetic    will    move 


-A.  Science  of  Happiness  9 

toward  the  same  summit  of  the  mountain,  though 
following  different  paths. 

The  long  distance  that  separates  us  from  the 
end  is  toilsome  to  traverse.  Many  travellers 
before  arriving  endure  great  sufferings.  The 
majority  die  on  the  way.  The  few  who  attain  the 
goal  of  their  efforts  find  themselves  bruised,  ill, 
or  mortally  wounded.  The  victory,  once  realised, 
appears  illusive.  They  perceive  tardily  that 
they  have  wasted  their  lives  in  trying  to  seize  a 
butterfly  which  cannot  be  caught.  Instead  of 
the  anticipated  happiness,  an  unutterable  melan- 
choly takes  possession  of  their  souls.  Facing 
the  irreparable,  they  succumb,  discouraged,  often 
infinitely  miserable. 

Fewer  still  are  those  who  profited  by  a  sudden 
light  illumining  their  path.  They  took  advantage 
of  it  to  change  their  direction.  Who  knows? 
Perhaps  they  only  changed  their  Calvary. 

The  dirges-  of  unhappiness  which  we  hear  are 
very  sad,  but  sadder  still  are  those  that  pass 
unheard. 

11.  Despair  even  inspires  a  species  of  terror. 
Beware  of  the  writers  who  would  dare  to  maintain 
its  inanity,  or  oppose  to  its  sneers  a  moderate 
trust  in  life. 

A  refined  thinker,  such  as  Paul  Stapfer,  will  not 


10  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

hesitate  to  compare  them  with  "fat  hogs  that 
grunt  contentedly  over  being  well  fed  and  warm 
in  their  sty." 

"To  admit  and  to  cry  out  our  woes'*  said  Rich- 
ard Jefferies,  "is  the  duty  of  all  beings  endowed 
with  reason,  for  in  vain  will  the  worst  pessimist 
describe  things  in  the  darkest  hues.  All  that  he 
can  say  will  still  remain  far  inferior  to  the  smallest 
particle  of  the  reality." 

Schopenhauer  considers  all  those  who  do  not 
believe  that  life  is  the  worst  of  frauds,  narrow- 
minded  and  shallow  Philistines. 

Dissatisfaction  with  life  is,  in  its  essence,  aristo- 
cratic. It  is  somewhat  like  a  garment  made  in 
the  latest  fashion,  in  harmony  with  the  most 
refined  taste  of  the  most  up-to-date  leaders. 
Almost  all  of  those  who  take  seriously  their  char- 
acter of  missionaries  of  the  truth  to  men,  do  not 
cease  to  proclaim  the  law  of  desolation  and  of 
disenchantment.  An  aggravated  melancholy  in- 
vades our  souls  like  an  impetuous  torrent  sweep- 
ing away  defenceless  houses.  Not  only  do  we  no 
longer  dare  to  resist  it,  but  we  prevent  opposition 
by  covering  with  ridicule  those  who  are  striving 
to  build  embankments.  "Yes,"  they  say  in 
their  turn,  "fate  is  often  hard  and  unjust.  Our 
sufferings  are  numerous  and  our  pangs  in  living 


A  Science  of  Happiness  il 

burst  forth  at  every  moment  of  our  existence. 
But  precisely  because  we  are  living  in  the  darkness, 
let  us  try  to  bring  into  this  gloom  a  few  rays  of 
hope  and  joy." 

Wretchedly  mocked  and  scorned,  these  men 
remain  silent,  making  way  for  those  who  mourn 
and  weep. 

III.  So  wails  and  lamentations  echo  around 
us.  Everybody  believes  and  calls  himself  miser- 
able. Does  not  this  result  from  a  simple  mis- 
imderstanding?  Are  we  not  the  victims  of  a 
mirage  which  is  all  the  more  dangerous  because 
it  constantly  increases  the  number  of  those  who  are 
sacrificed?  Should  the  sole  end  of  progress  be  to 
augment  our  distress,  while  increasing  our  com- 
fort? There  are  numerous  scientists  who  assert 
that  the  woe  which  burdens  the  human  race  will 
become  more  and  more  heavy  and  fatal.  Shall 
we  not  say  that  the  progress  of  human  evolution 
displays  itself  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  advance  of 
happiness?  What  is  this  inevitable  law  which 
would  shut  us  within  the  tragical  dilemma  of 
being  able  to  develop  only  to  the  detriment  of 
our  happiness? 

One  phenomenon  impresses  us  when  we  con- 
sider our  fellow  creatures.  While  advancing  in 
life,  they  usually  forget  the  present  and  live  only 


12  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

in  the  future.  When  the  latter  deceives  their 
hopes,  they  recognise  the  fact  that  they  have  not 
Hved.  Around  us,  before  us,  iDchind  us,  therefore, 
we  behold  only  people  who  have  fallen  on  the  road, 
often  duped,  and  almost  always  sorrowful  and 
wretched. 

The  moralists  usually  regard  happiness  with 
inconceivable  scorn.  It  drags  along  behind 
ethical  systems  like  an  importunate  shadow.  Yet, 
without  the  intervention  of  Happiness,  there  is 
nothing  stable  in  human  institutions  or  in  moral 
systems.  When  it  is  lacking,  there  is  nothing 
real,  nothing  solid  in  the  foundations  of  life. 
What  is  the  advantage  of  overlooking  its  im- 
portance? Happiness,  like  the  gods  of  ancient 
Olympus,  always  arrives  in  time  to  make  its 
weight  felt  in  the  life  of  human  beings. 

IV.  The  principal  problem  of  our  modem  life 
consists  in  reconciling  the  old  and  the  new  faith. 
The  bygone  one  taught  us  that  life  on  earth  is 
only  a  dung-heap  out  of  which  grows  the 
invisible  Paradise  of  our  dreams;  that  of  the 
present  day  believes  that  life  has  a  purpose  in 
itself. 

We  must  be  happy  on  earth,  with  the  assurance 
of  being  still  more  so  in  the  future  life,  say  the 
believers. 


-A.  Science  of  Happiness  13 

We  must  be  happy  on  earth,  for  future  happiness 
is  only  a  deceptive  mirage,  say  the  sceptics. 

But  both  should  think,  like  Goethe,  that  the 
object  of  life  is  life  itself. 

V.  Adapting  a  quotation  from  Plato,  the 
Middle  Ages  drove  Happiness  from  the  city. 
Ranged  behind  Kant,  modem  moralists  banish 
from  morality  all  thoughts  of  happiness.  In  the 
history  of  so  many  systems  that  have  fallen  into 
ruin,  perhaps  only  the  Stoics  and  the  Cynics 
have  spoken  of  its  divinity  humanely,  with  love 
for  those  whom  it  shuns  and  with  joy  for  those 
who  benefit  by  its  miraculous  touch.  This  has 
not  prevented  their  doctrines  from  being  thor- 
oughly moral.  They  knew,  first  of  all,  how  to 
identify  Happiness  with  Truth. 

The  Stoics,  it  is  true,  had  the  courage  to  exalt 
Happiness.  But  their  Happiness,  in  its  essence,  is 
sorrowful.  It  has  a  dismal  severity.  It  is  always 
mourning  lost  illusions.  Their  joy  in  life  is  only 
the  serene  thought  of  death.  Yet  they  take 
leave  of  the  living  like  guests  rising  from  an 
endless  banquet. 

Marcus  Aurelius  vainly  teaches  that  we  ought 
not  to  grieve.  His  soul  exhales  poison.  The 
divine  balance  of  the  best  of  men  is  merely  a 
myth.      We  meet  with  it   only  in   Renan,   who 


14  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

transports  the  serenity  of  his  own  soul  into  those 
of  his  heroes. 

We  might  say  of  the  joy  of  living  and  of  the 
happiness  of  the  Stoics  what  Walter  Pater  has  said 
of  the  thoughts  of  Marcus  Aurelius:  that  we  ought 
to  move  only  with  solemn,  muffled  tread,  as  it  be- 
seems us  to  walk  in  a  house  where  lies  a  dead  man. 

They  do  not  weep ;  they  do  not  tear  their  hair ; 
they  do  not  give  themselves  up  to  paroxysms  of 
boundless  grief.  This  is  much.  Only  the  victo- 
ries of  recent  life  can  illumine  with  rays  of  joy  and 
true  happiness  the  austere  abode  bequeathed  to 
us  by  our  ancestors. 

VI.  Vainly  is  happiness  driven  from  the  cares 
of  the  mind.  It  returns  invisible,  through  doors 
which  are  believed  to  be  hermetically  sealed. 
It  takes  its  place  triumphantly  in  spite  of  all 
prohibitions.  The  noblest  of  doctrines,  Kant's 
categorical  imperative,  with  its  absolute  moral 
necessity,  conceived  outside  of  and  even  in  opposi- 
tion to  every  idea  of  Happiness,  crumbles  logically, 
when  deprived  of  its  support.  When  a  voice 
commands,  Schopenhauer  has  justly  said,  it 
proceeds  from  within  or  from  without  us.  It  is 
simply  impossible  that  it  should  not  have  the 
tone  of  menace,  or  eli^e  that  of  promise.  The 
person,  in  listening  to  either,  becomes  interested. 


A  Science  of  Happiness  15 

And  the  interest,  in  the  main,  is  only  the  thought 
of  Happiness. 

Why  then  do  we  not  march  openly  under  its 
banner?  Why  do  we  not  bow  before  its  ubiquity, 
embracing,  as  it  does,  even  our  dreams  and  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul?  Let  us  try  to  direct  its 
power,  to  study  its  operation,  to  facilitate  its 
beneficent  evolution,  to  make  its  laws  triumph. 
Let  us,  in  short,  try  to  render  it  a  science. 

VI L  Why  should  we  scorn  happiness,  joy? 
According  to  Spinoza,  joy  is  perfection.  Morality 
based  solely  upon  duty,  has  failed.  We  no 
longer  believe  in  Kant,  but  we  believe  more  and 
more  in  the  only  real  thing  which  exists  in  us, 
that  which,  in  spite  of  ourselves  and  even  against 
our  will,  guides  and  leads  us:  the  perception  and 
even  the  appetite  for  Happiness. 

When  this  consciousness  is  perfected  and  en- 
nobled, Humanity,  in  its  turn,  will  find  itself 
ennobled  and  perfected. 

All  the  conflicts  of  bygone  centuries  waged 
around  the  moral  ideal  have  for  their  purpose  the 
crushing  or  the  triumph  of  the  ego,  the  renuncia- 
tion of  human  personality  or  its  free  development. 
Self,  trampled  down  and  destroyed,  became  the 
synonym  of  virtue.  On  its  ruins  were  expected 
to  grow  the  divine  qualities  of  man,  as  if  a  luxuriant 


i6  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

blossoming  could  come  forth  on  bare  rocks. 
The  reaction,  as  usual,  wandered  into  excess. 
Despairing  of  saving  mankind  in  the  mass,  it 
confined  itself  to  causing  the  triumph  of  a  few 
exceptional  beings.  The  worship  of  the  strong 
man,  the  demi-god,  lauded  by  the  Renaissance, 
and  taken  up  by  egotists  of  every  degree,  imposes 
a  renunciation  of  the  wrong  kind.  Asceticism 
immolated  the  individual  in  behalf  of  the  invisible 
being;  egotism  sacrifices  the  community  for  the 
benefit  of  a  few  stronger  and,  especially,  more 
rapacious  beings.  The  first  disarmed  us  by  its 
disinterestedness:  the  second  shocks  us  by  the 
unrestraint  of  its  appetites. 

Calmness  will  be  restored  to  our  inflamed  as- 
pirations only  when  we  admit  happiness  for  all 
in  the  same  degree. 

VIII.  The  right  to  life,  the  right  to  wages,  the 
right  of  the  aged  and  the  infirm  to  the  aid  of  the 
Government,  and  so  many  of  the  other  victories 
of  modern  life,  will  end  by  having  their  supreme 
achievement  in  the  right  to  Happiness. 

Est  Deus  in  nobis.  God  is  in  us  all.  The 
human  soul,  inspired  by  religion  or  by  science; 
man,  son  of  God,  or  man,  source  of  the  intelligence, 
will  end  by  bowing  before  this  primordial  principle 
of  the  human  personality.     Life  will  divest  itself 


A  Science  of  Happiness  17 

of  uniformity  by  dissolving  itself  according  to  the 
innumerable  varieties  of  souls. 

There  is  no  higher  sovereignty  than  self -mastery, 
said  da  Vinci.  Only,  what  the  peerless  Leonardo 
claimed  for  himself  must  be  admitted  in  favour  of 
all,  including  the  humble  and  the  dispossessed.  Let 
us  aid  them  to  regain  their  dominion  by  rendering 
life  sweet  and  friendly.  They  must  be  rulers  in 
the  realm  of  their  ego,  for  they  are  all  men. 

Why  philosophise  beside  the  mark?  Let  us 
question  human  nature.  Relieved  from  all  re- 
straint, it  will  answer  us  with  brutal  frankness: 
Happiness  is  my  organic  need.  I  require  it  as  I 
do  food  or  air.  We  eat  poorly,  we  breathe  badly, 
and  yet  we  live.  But,  to  make  the  human  ego 
unfold  and  flower,  let  it  be  developed  in  Happiness. 

People  who  are  nobly  happy  constitute  the 
power,  the  beauty,  and  the  foundation  of  the 
nation.  All  who  seek  and  obtain  Happiness 
contribute  to  the  prosperity  and  to  the  moral 
development  of  the  community.  They  form  the 
flower  and  the  hope  of  their  native  land. 

The  perception  of  Happiness  is  immutable.  It  is 
the  part  of  the  wise  man  to  give  to  the  invincible 
desire  a  lofty  and  divine  meaning. 

IX.  Our  conceptions,  influenced  by  past  as- 
ceticism, by  false  piety,  and  by  ignorance  of  the 


l8  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

divine  laws,  prevent  us  from  accepting  the  right 
to  Happiness.  They  even  cause  us  to  reject  this 
new  duty  which  modern  Hf e  imposes :  the  duty  of 
being  happy.  We  ought  to  be  happy,  as  we  ought 
to  love  our  own  city,  to  be  devoted  to  its  interests, 
and  to  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  community. 

The  happiness  of  our  native  country  and  of  our 
fellow  creatures  is  dear  to  us.  So  much  the  better. 
Let  us  begin  by  caring  for  our  personal  happiness. 
As  Ellen  Key  has  justly  said,  it  is  impossible  to 
attend  to  the  feeding  of  oiu*  neighbours  until  we 
have  satisfied  our  own  hunger  and  thirst.  A  per- 
son suffering  from  typhoid  fever  finds  it  difficult 
to  nurse  his  friend.  A  reformer  who,  indifferent 
to  his  own  happiness,  expresses  the  wish  to  obtain 
it  for  others,  resembles  a  blind  man  who  would  fain 
guide  those  who  can  see.  A  little  patience,  and  we 
shall  witness,  in  the  city  of  the  future,  how  the 
most  recent  duty,  that  of  being  happy,  will  take 
its  revenge  and  triumphantly  occupy  the  place 
of  its  annihilated  rivals.  For  Happiness,  like 
tears  and  laughter,  is  communicable.  Learn 
to  be  happy,  or  still  better,  be  happy,  and  every 
one  around  you  will  be  happier  and  better. 

X.  The  recommendations  of  the  aesthetes  to 
live  and  to  die  in  beauty  should  have  for  a  corollary 
to  live  and  to  die  in  Happiness. 


A.  Science  of  Happiness  19 

After  having  fully  exhausted  our  ego,  after  hav- 
ing realised  its  tastes  and  its  aspirations,  we  shall 
lie  down  in  the  evening  of  our  life  with  a  sense  of 
serenity  and  satisfaction  akin  to  that  the  labourer 
experiences  who  falls  asleep  after  the  day's  work 
given  for  the  benefit  of  his  land. 

XI.  Life  is  not  only  worth  the  trouble  of 
being  lived;  it  imposes,  besides,  the  duty  of  living 
our  own  life.  Whoever  has  not  been  happy  has 
failed  in  his  duties.  Perhaps  he  has  passed  through 
life  in  a  dream,  but  he  has  no  more  lived  than  a 
lunatic  lives  when  he  unconsciously  runs  over  the 
roofs  of  houses. 

Those  who  are  not  conscious  of  their  Happiness, 
those  who  live  outside  of  its  earnest  appeals  and 
its  genuine  needs,  recall  the  soldiers  in  Detaille's 
great  picture,  Le  Reve.  They  have  fought  in  a 
dream,  suffered  and  enjoyed  in  their  slumbering 
imagination,  without  profit — to  themselves  or  to 
their  native  land. 

Modern  thought  openly  proclaims  or  indirectly 
betrays  the  cares  and  the  duties  of  individual 
Happiness.  John  Ruskin  rightly  asserts  that  the 
will  of  God  is  that  we  should  live  through  Happi- 
ness for  the  benefit  of  the  lives  of  our  brothers, 
and  not  by  their  poverty  and  their  death.  Men 
mutually  help  one  another  by  their  joys,  but  not 


20  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

by  their  sorrows.  John  Lubbock  makes  joy  an 
elementary  duty  of  the  modern  men.  He  tells 
us  that  we  ought  to  be  as  joyous  as  possible, 
because  to  be  happy  ourselves  is  an  excellent 
method  of  aiding  the  happiness  of  others.  The 
pessimists,  who  grieve  over  the  sadness  and  the 
disappointments  of  life,  or  the  optimists,  who 
exalt  its  beauties,  bow  with  the  same  rever- 
ence before  the  god  Happiness.  The  re- 
bellion of  haughty  intellects  such  as  Nietzsche, 
Shelley,  Carlyle,  or  so  many  others,  and  their 
fierce  egotism,  are  merely  the  result  of  their  ignor- 
ance that  happiness  is  a  possibility  for  all.  Be- 
lieving it  unattainable  by  the  mass,  they  claim 
it  for  the  demi-gods  or  super -men.  But  true 
happiness  is  so  much  the  greater  and  deeper  in  the 
proportion  that  it  embraces  and  unites  in  a  frater- 
nal chain  more  men,  more  countries,  more  worlds. 

As  joy  does  not  mean  simple  enjoyment,  Happi- 
ness must  not  be  confounded  with  anti-social 
egotism  or  the  satisfaction  of  low  instincts.  It 
will  be  the  part  of  the  Science  of  Happiness  to 
point  out  the  foundations  of  Happiness,  at  once 
thoroughly  noble  and  infinitely  lasting,  foundations 
which  are  accessible  to  the  whole  human  race. 

XH.  We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  intoxi- 
cated by  the  religion  of  self-sacrifice,  of  altruism 


^  Science  of  Happiness  2i 

toward  all  and  for  all,  and  especially  by  that  of 
the  future  existence.  They  pass  by  the  side  of 
life.  Their  worship  has  never  been  anything  but 
a  worship  of  words.  Impracticable,  and  not 
practised,  they  have  falsified  the  divine  meaning 
of  our  ego.  Now,  the  law  we  have  had  should 
never  be  a  chain.  We  are  quits  with  it,  according 
to  the  counsels  of  a  moralist,  when  we  have 
wrapped  it  carefully  in  a  purple  shroud,  in  which 
the  dead  gods  sleep. 

XIII.  Nature,  we  are  told,  knows  only  the 
species.  She  neglects  and  dooms  the  individual. 
Nature  is  calumniated.  Science  is  libelled  in  the 
same  way.  Per  eat  mundus,  fiant  pilulce,  shout 
certain  healers.  Long  live  the  pills,  perish  the 
patients!  What  would  the  pills  do  without  the 
patients,  what  would  the  species  do  without 
the  individual?  Can  an  edifice  be  preserved  by 
removing  the  stones  of  which  it  is  composed? 

Does  nature  aim  only  at  preserving  the  species? 
What  do  we  know  about  it?  We  have  small 
acquaintance  with  her  metaphysical  intentions. 
Yet  those  which  she  took  care  to  reveal  to  us  show 
that,  if  she  pays  little  attention  to  the  individual, 
she  takes  no  greater  account  of  the  species.  The 
history  of  the  fauna  and  of  the  flora  is  only  one 
vast  cemetery,  where  are  found  millions  of  dead 


22  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

species.  Some  among  these  defunct  varieties 
were  admirably  organised;  perhaps  they  might 
even  have  disputed  man's  place,  like  that  anthro- 
poid, the  Dryopithecus,  who  seemed  predestined 
to  a  brilliant  future. 

In  reality,  nature  has  no  consideration  for 
either  individual  or  species.  So  we  should  not 
permit  ourselves  to  be  led  into  error  by  her  vague 
plans,  but  occupy  ourselves  instead  with  the  real 
happiness  of  man. 

XIV.  Egoisms  vary,  as  our  souls  differ.  There 
are  sublime  ones,  which  furnish  the  weapons  for 
the  noble  conflicts  of  life  and  spread  the  contagion 
of  energy,  of  hope,  of  joy.  We  should  do  wrong 
to  speak  ill  of  "love  of  self,"  as  we  should  err  in 
slandering  nature  because,  by  the  side  of  heavenly 
landscapes,  it  possesses  marshy  waters. 

What  are  the  abnegation  of  the  saints,  the  dis- 
interestedness of  hardened  altruists,  except  varia- 
tions of  the  numberless  forms  of  egoism,  which 
assumes  every  shape,  including  that  of  personal 
sacrifice.  The  acquirer  of  wealth  who  gives  to 
his  children  a  portion  of  his  treasures ;  the  mother 
who  loves  life,  yet  risks  her  own  at  the  bedside  of 
her  child  attacked  by  typhoid  fever ;  the  lover  who 
sacrifices  himself  for  the  lady  of  his  heart,  are 
only  yielding  to  the  impulses  of  their  lofty  egoism. 


A  Science  of  Happiness  23 

We  defer  the  realisation  of  our  egoism  for  a 
future  payment,  or  we  coin  it  at  once.  We 
consent  to  be  rewarded  in  heaven,  or  we  seek 
satisfactions  here  below.  It  procures  divine 
pleasures  for  the  god  in  man;  it  furnishes  animal 
joys  to  the  beast  in  man.  It  enthrones  itself  in 
the  depths  of  our  souls  and  rules  there  according 
to  their  essence. 

The  Greeks,  in  their  beHefs,  which  bear  the 
imprint  of  sincerity,  saw  in  their  gods  thoroughly 
selfish  beings.  The  gods  of  Olympus  acted  solely 
under  the  impetus  of  their  personal  interests.  Our 
Phariseeism  attributes  to  men  quaHties  which  the 
ancients  denied  to  the  gods  themselves. 

After  all,  if  the  genius  of  nature,  listening  to  the 
stupid  desires  of  certain  philosophers,  had  uprooted 
from  our  souls  the  love  of  self,  mankind  would 
have  ceased  to  live.  In  losing  the  essential  prin- 
ciple of  the  conservation  of  the  species,  man  would 
have  lost,  at  the  same  time,  the  necessity  of  con- 
tinuing his  existence.  Never  would  he  have 
consented  to  drag  it  on  for  the  sake  of  others. 

By  classing  self-love  (egotism)  with  the  most 
degraded  tendencies  of  our  hearts,  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  defaming  Happiness,  which  has  become 
almost  a  shameful  desire  of  our  ego,  instead  of 
being  its  glory  and  its  crown.     Have  not  certain 


24  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

moralists  gone  so  far  as  to  proscribe  the  word 
Happiness?' 

XV.  There  is  something  singular  in  the  fact 
that  among  so  many  sciences  of  which  mankind 
is  proud,  not  one  of  them  should  be  consecrated  to 
Happiness.  Is  it  possible?  Such  a  science  needed 
first  to  be  planted,  so  that  later  its  fruits  could  be 
examined.  It  should  have  been  given  the  op- 
portunity to  interest  the  mass  of  humanity.  All 
the  nations  of  the  earth  should  have  been  able  to 
communicate  in  its  universal^  admitted  laws. 
Profiting  by  the  observations  and  lessons  that 
came  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  it  would 
have  been  able,  in  its  turn,  to  embellish  the  lives 
of  human  beings  of  whatever  origin,  colour,  or 
faith. 

Religions  in  the  name  of  heaven,  philosophers 
in  the  name  of  human  fraternity,  have  always 
preached  the  necessity  for  peace.  Yet  wars  have 
not  ceased  to  stain  the  earth  with  blood.  For  a 
century,  we  have  been  taught  that  peace  is  neces- 
sary to  our  happiness,  and  the  horror  of  war  in- 
vades our  souls  and  is  implanted  in  our  minds. 

Why  should  we  reproach  men  for  seeking 
unrealisable  goals?     Is  not  progress  a  continual 

'  According  to  Carlyle,  the' word  happiness  ought  to  give  place 
to  a  higher  condition,  blessedness. 


A  Science  of  Happiness  25 

march  toward  the  star?  Sainte-Beuve  uttered 
a  profound  thought:  ''In  aiming  at  impossible 
things,  we  finally  obtain  possible  ones,  which 
otherwise  we  should  never  have  reached." 

So  long  live  the  Science  of  Happiness,  based  upon 
the  possibiHty  of  Happiness  for  all,  through  all! 

We  marvel  when  we  think  of  the  wealth  of 
elements  which  the  Science  of  Happiness  will 
meet  upon  its  way.  All  its  sisters,  in  union,  are 
really  working  for  its  triumph.  Hygiene  or 
medicine,  philosophy  or  morality,  technical  or 
poHtical  sciences,  the  biography  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  all  are  keeping  incalculable  treasures  for 
the  youngest  bom.  Amid  these  fields  of  precious 
stones,  she  will  have  only  to  point  out  and  to 
gather  whatever  objects  she  may  choose. 


II 

HAPPINESS  IS  WITHIN  US 

I .  When  we  begin  to  reflect  upon  the  importance 
of  some  of  the  storms  of  life  that  we  have  weathered 
we  are  amazed  to  discover  their  insignificance. 
The  most  intense  moral  sufferings  pale  singularly 
in  the  light  of  reflection,  and  assume  a  new  form. 
We  no  longer  even  understand  past  sensations 
and  terrors.  The  same  idea  appHes  to  the  great 
dramas  of  our  existence.  Under  their  immediate 
domination,  our  minds  are  bewildered.  We  are 
not  able  to  think,  and  we  do  not  even  wish  to 
survive  them.  Their  wounds  appear  incurable, 
and  our  life  appears  to  be  blighted  for  ever. 

Let  us  examine  ourselves  a  few  days  after  the 

cruel  ordeal.     Released  from  the  brutal  influence 

of  the  moment,  our  mind  is  beginning  to  investigate 

the  situation.     Looking  within  ourselves,  we  are 

astonished  to  see  how  greatly  our  feelings  have 

changed.     What  has  become  of  the  irreparable 

misfortune?     What   has   become   of   the   eternal 

26 


Happiness  Is  "witKin  Us  27 

suffering?  We  are  seized  with  amazement.  Could 
grief  and  misfortune  amuse  themselves  at  our 
expense?     Would  reality  foil  them? 

Let  us  permit  another  interval  of  time  to  elapse , 
and  then  begin  again  the  task  of  comparing  our 
feelings.  Another  surprise  awaits  us.  Our  sorrows, 
our  acute  emotions  of  despair  have  suffered  a 
further  diminution.  Their  intensity  having  dis- 
appeared, their  faded  forms  are  no  longer  recognis- 
able. Something  vague  has  replaced  our  grief.  A 
day  comes  when  we  smile  indulgently  at  past  mis- 
fortunes. We  no  longer  find  in  them  anything 
except  a  subject  of  study  of  the  changing  conditions 
of  our  soul. ' 

This  transformation  often  occurs  suddenly 
under  the  influence  of  a  person  dear  to  our  hearts, 
whose  influence  swiftly  drives  away  the  clouds 
that  darken  the  real  aspect  of  things.  For  conso- 
lations have  no  other  object.  When  they  emanate 
from  a  gifted  mind,  they  aim  simply  to  snatch  the 
mask  from  the  incidents  which  are  governing  us. 
If  they  do  not  always  attain  their  goal,  it  is  be- 
cause intelligent  comprehension  of  the  souls  of 
others  is  so  rare. 

^  A  mother's  grief  for  her  lost  child  doubtless  threatens  to  last 
a  lifetime.  But  we  are  considering  only  the  causes  of  ordinary 
unhappiness,  the  source  of  daily  sorrows,  and  not  exceptional 
forms.     Yet  even  the  most  cruel  sufferings  are  finally  softened. 


28  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

II.  Do  not  the  various  degrees  of  our  unhappi- 
ness,  its  constant  transformation  in  our  minds, 
the  dependence  of  its  intensity  and  its  extent  upon 
the  sensibility  of  the  individual,  all  prove  that  the 
source  of  our  sufferings  is  found  within  ourselves? 
The  external  world  makes  our  sensibility  vibrate, 
and  it  responds  like  a  piano  to  the  touch  of  the 
performer.  But  the  latter  will  vainly  possess 
amazing  power ;  he  can  produce  no  sounds  without 
the  aid  of  the  instrument.  A  still  better  analogy 
of  our  relation  to  misfortune  is  that  of  an  artist 
standing  before  the  notes  of  a  score.  The  sweet 
or  mournful  tones  of  our  voices  follow  the  external 
signs,  but  the  unhappiness,  like  the  sounds,  is 
within  ourselves. 

From  this  condition  of  affairs  one  comforting 
truth  is  apparent.  Happiness  and  misery  being 
in  the  majority  of  cases  only  the  fruits  of  our  own 
sensibiHty,  and  the  latter  forming,  in  its  turn, 
only  a  portion  of  our  minds,  we  become,  by  that 
very  fact,  the  authors  of  our  happiness  and  our 
grief. 

Circumstances  occurring  outside  of  ourselves 
are  difficult  to  conquer,  but  the  formation  of  our 
ego,  its  mode  of  existence  and  of  thought  are 
within  our  power.  Since  we  find  it  an  impossi- 
biUty  to  change  the  factors  without,  let  us  alter 


Happiness  Is  witKin  Us  29 

those  within.  Being  unable  to  aspire  to  the  mas- 
tery of  things  and  of  men,  let  us  try  to  govern  and 
direct  our  desires.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  have 
servants,  palaces,  and  millions;  it  is  easier  to 
drive  this  longing  from  our  hearts.  When,  serious 
and  thoughtful,  the  mind  comes  to  dwell  upon 
the  things  it  formerly  so  ardently  desired,  it  will 
reveal  to  us,  with  a  smile,  their  emptiness.  So 
long  as  people  believed  in  the  devil,  he  showed 
himself  to  men.  The  abandonment  of  the  belief 
in  his  omnipotence  was  sufficient  to  make  him 
cease  to  disturb  even  their  dreams. 

III.  A  calm  estimate  of  our  desires  often  re- 
sults in  their  disappearance.  There  comes  a 
period  even  when  the  eager  appetites  for  inaccessi- 
ble things  are  almost  entirely  appeased.  And 
as  reflection  eliminates  the  fear  of  evil  spirits, 
the  cause  of  unhappiness  to  superstitious  people, 
deliberate  thought,  coming  to  our  aid,  can  always 
affect  and  often  dispels  our  superstitions  of  lux- 
ury, of  wealth,  of  false  ambition,  and  of  so  many 
other  torments  that  influence  our  life. 

The  happiness  thus  gained  becomes  an  acquisi- 
tion equalling  all  the  blessings  of  this  world.  We 
no  longer  believe  solely  in  visible  things.  But  the 
existence  of  the  famous  dead,  of  men  honest  and 
wise  in  their  sincere  confession,  brings  us  countless 


30  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

proofs  that  happiness  is  in  direct  dependence  upon 
our  ego.  "We  seek,"  cries  an  ancient  moralist, 
"hiding-places,  pastoral  grottoes,  rustic  huts, 
mountains,  sea  beaches,  for  what  purpose? — since 
thou  art  permitted  to  retire  within  thyself." 

The  Stoics  justly  said  that  the  happy  man  is 
he  whom  chance  could  neither  elevate  nor  humble. 
Whoever  succeeds  in  subordinating  his  happiness 
to  the  state  of  his  mind,  creates  for  himself  an 
inviolable  refuge,  an  impregnable  fortress,  a  just, 
kind,  and  trustworthy  master. 

IV.  In  reflecting  upon  the  troubles  and  the 
pleasures  of  life,  we  easily  perceive  that  both  are 
merely  the  children  of  our  brain.  That  is  what 
gives  them  the  final  impress  and  classifies  them 
in  our  intelligence.  Our  opinion  of  things,  the 
principal  source  of  our  happiness,  is  only  the  pro- 
duct of  our  mentality,  the  fruit,  in  its  turn,  of 
our  education.  There  is  a  sort  of  continuous 
chain,  all  of  whose  links — education,  mentality, 
opinions — are  thus  dependent  upon  ourselves. 

Glory  excites,  animates,  sustains,  and  ruins  so 
many  human  lives!  Yet  so  many  others  are  left 
untouched!  The  desire  for  wealth,  which  poisons 
the  existence  of  the  modem  man,  acts  only  upon 
certain  individuals.  Power,  which  attracts  and 
fascinates  some  persons,  does  not  appeal  to  the 


Happiness  Is  witHin  Us  31 

imagination  of  others.  In  certain  countries, 
like  France  and  the  United  States,  there  is  even  a 
class  of  politicians  from  which  are  recruited  the 
aspirants  to  the  government.  It  is  always  the 
same  little  nucleus  which  furnishes  the  masters; 
the  other  members  of  society,  often  even  the  best 
ones,  turn  aside  with  disgust  from  what  they  term 
the  wretched  political  caldron.  There  are  people 
who  would  give  half  their  lives  for  a  rare  decoration 
or  a  title  of  nobility.  There  are  others  who  un- 
dergo all  sorts  of  humiliations  in  order  to  be  able 
to  frequent  what  they  call  good  society,  composed 
for  the  most  part  of  idle  and  intellectually  narrow 
people.  The  happiness  of  some  consists  in  sitting 
at  the  table  of  the  C^sars,  others  find  it  in  com- 
panionship with  the  kings  of  the  mind.  Some 
dream  of  the  heights,  mounted  upon  which  they 
will  be  seen  by  the  greatest  number  of  their 
contemporaries;  others  of  modest  refuges  and  an 
ideal  forgetfulness. 

Let  us  follow  the  endless  scale  of  our  dreams  of 
happiness,  and  we  shall  see  their  limitless  varia- 
tions. 

V.  The  things  around  us  remain  immutable 
in  their  essence.  It  is  man  who  torments  himself 
and  suffers  by  coveting  them.  If  the  objects  of 
our  ardent  desires  had  a  soul,  they  would  fill  the 


32  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

world  with  sarcastic  laughter.  Perhaps  that 
might  save  the  world,  for  it  would  understand 
ridicule. 

When  we  think  that  our  entire  life  depends  upon 
certain  words  which,  by  dint  of  repetition,  become 
our  opinions,  we  are  justly  astonished  at  our  neg- 
ligence concerning  them. 

Most  persons  spend  more  time  upon  the  arrange- 
ment of  their  hair,  than  they  do  in  forming  or 
correcting  the  opinions  on  which  their  happiness 
depends. 

We  are  vexed  with  people  who  give  us  bad  advice 
concerning  the  purchase  of  furniture.  We  do 
not  forgive  a  man  who  has  sold  us  a  lame  horse. 
We  inquire  diligently  concerning  the  quality  of 
the  wines  we  want  to  buy.  We  blush  at  having 
been  deceived  by  an  unscrupulous  banker.  Yet 
we  accept  and  retain  without  control  false  opin- 
ions concerning  many  things. 

We  refuse  adulterated  wines  and  ill-baked 
bread;  we  are  on  our  guard  when  we  are  eating 
in  a  doubtful  place;  but  we  maintain  a  constant 
intercourse  with  people  whose  ideas  we  know 
to  be  false  and  their  souls  depraved.  Their 
action  is  far  more  dangerous,  for  they  sow  around 
them  misfortune  and  corruption. 

The  human  race  will  realise  one  of    its  noblest 


Happiness  Is  -witKin  Us  33 

reforms  when  it  understands  that  it  is  just  as 
important,  when  seeking  happiness,  not  to  live  on 
false  opinions  as  it  is  not  to  eat  adulterated 
foods. 

VI.  The  substance  of  things  escapes  us.  It 
has,  moreover,  no  share  in  our  happiness.  It  is 
in  vain  that  the  objects  of  our  longings  remain  the 
same,  our  attitude  with  regard  to  them  does  not. 
Wealth,  ambition,  power,  fame,  the  distinctions 
or  the  charms  of  polished  society  retain  their 
virtues,  and  never  change.  The  ribbon  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour  retains  its  crimson  hue  and  that 
of  the  academic  palms  keeps  the  violet  shade. 
Yet  the  ardent  longings  of  some  are  offset  by  the 
contempt  of  others.  Nay,  more;  how  is  it  that 
we  should  so  consumingly  desire  the  very  ribbon 
to  which,  a  few  years  later,  we  shall  be  entirely 
indifferent? 

The  same  object  which  inspires  some  with  over- 
whelming thrills  of  yearning  makes  many  others 
smile !  Where  we  see  a  source  of  happiness,  others 
behold  only  a  source  of  ridicule.  While  our 
education  tends  only  toward  concrete  goals,  a 
shallow  comprehension  of  life  and  the  conquest 
of  wealth,  there  are  superior  minds  which  detach 
themselves  from  these  things  and  declare  our 
education  and  our  life,  as  the  majority  of  men 

3  - 


34  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

understand  it,  defective  from  the  standpoint  of 
happiness. 

The  Faubourg  Saint- Germain,  fixed  in  a  con- 
ventional mould,  has  a  fully  established  physiog- 
nomy. Yet  its  vices  and  its  charms  appeal 
differently  to  the  taste  of  men.  Some  of  our  writ- 
ers, to  form  a  portion  of  it,  have  sacrificed  their 
independence  and  their  originality,  while  many 
others  would  not  give  up  a  single  line  of  their 
works  to  enter  its  precincts. 

How  profound  is  this  thought  of  Emerson: 
Man  is  a  monarch,  who  abdicates  when  he  goes 
into  the  world ! 

"The  sole  value  of  life,"  Renan  tells  us,  "is 
through  devotion  to  truth  and  goodness.  This 
principle,  though  fatal  to  worldly  success,  never- 
theless is  fruitful  of  happiness !  The  purpose  of  a 
noble  life  should  be  an  ideal  and  disinterested 
pursuit!" 

Augustin  Thierry,  blind  and  ill,  is  enraptured 
by  the  delights  obtained  through  his  devotion  to 
science,  which  yields  more  than  fortune  and  all 
material  pleasures. 

In  his  touching  exhortation  to  Brother  Leo, 
Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  tells  us  that  even  if  our 
brother  throws  us  on  the  ground,  rolls  us  in  the 
snow,  makes  us  feel,  while  beating  us,  every  knot 


Happiness  Is  witKin  Us  35 

in  his  cudgel,  we  shall  find  perfect  joy  therein, 
if  we  bear  these  things  with  cheerfulness  for  the 
love  of  the  Saviour. 

What  a  charming  exclamation  was  that  of 
Saint  Theresa  in  speaking  of  the  demons:  "Un- 
happy creatures,  they  do  not  love!"  Love  of 
truth  or  of  science,  love  of  the  Saviour,  as  well  as 
love  of  our  neighbour,  are  individual  sources  of 
happiness.  These  sources  are  found  within  our- 
selves, and  the  objects  or  the  entities  outside 
count  as  nothing. 

VII.  Let  us  be  more  explicit.  The  desire  for 
wealth  appears  to  be  general.  The  omnipotent 
million  exercises  a  universal  influence.  We  are 
told  that  it  crushes  the  firmest  characters,  and 
reduces  to  fragments  the  most  stable  principles 
of  societies  and  of  individuals.  Yet  the  best  men 
remain  insensible  to  its  appeals  and  its  smiles. 
Its  attractions  and  charms  also  dwell,  not  in  it- 
self, but  in  us.  It  is  we  who  adorn,  we  who  be- 
stow upon  it  invincible  powers  and  numberless 
allurements.  We  need  only  examine  it  from  a 
certain  point  of  view,  and  its  intoxicating  beauties 
will  vanish  forever. 

VIII .  One  of  the  teachers  of  my  childhood,  who 
excelled  in  relating  parables,  said  to  me  one  day: 

**  There  is  a  country  which  no  one  enters  except 


36  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

myself.  When  once  there,  I  find  a  resplendent 
kingdom,  full  of  mysterious  charms.  I  am  re- 
ceived as  a  respected  and  beloved  master.  The 
inhabitants  kneel  before  me.  Sometimes  sorrow- 
ful because  they  have  succumbed  to  invincible 
temptations ;  sometimes  joyous  because  they  have 
resisted  the  snares  of  life,  they  confide  to  me  their 
griefs  and  their  joys.  I  listen  with  interest,  some- 
times pitying,  always  delighted.  Then,  in  taking 
leave  of  them,  I  say:  '  Beings  of  my  being,  con- 
tinue to  think  of  him  who  lives  in  you,  as  you 
live  in  him.'  And  the  moments  spent  in  this 
fascinating  kingdom,  amid  fraternal  thoughts  and 
souls,  are  the  sweetest  of  my  existence.  Why 
must  I  go  there  so  rarely?  A  time  will  come, 
however,  when  every  one  will  have  the  faculty  of 
spending  a  large  portion  of  his  life  in  this  happy 
country;  for  access  to  it  will  become  more  and 
more  easy." 

Long  after,  I  understood  the  meaning  of  these 
words. 

IX.  The  more  we  reflect,  the  more  we  perceive 
that  Happiness  dwells  within  us.  Through  a 
regrettable  lack  of  comprehension,  we  wear  out 
our  lives  in  seeking  it  elsewhere.  When,  fatigued 
and  bewildered,  we  return  within  ourselves,  we 
find  the  divine  flame  dull  or  extinguished. 


Happiness  Is  i^vitKin  Us  37 

Our  sufferings,  our  despondency,  our  woes,  are 
almost  invariably  only  the  products  of  our  thoughts. 
What  is  more  terrifying  to  the  minds  of  the  ma- 
jority of  men  than  the  dread  of  inevitable  death? 
Yet  it  seems  sweet  and  consoling  to  all  who  have 
thought  of  it  differently.  The  death  inflicted  upon 
the  Christian  martyrs  in  the  Roman  arenas 
freezes  us  with  terror.  A  thrill  of  horror  makes 
us  tremble  at  the  idea  of  beings  mutilated  while 
alive.  And  yet  it  is  said  that  Saint  Perpetua, 
torn  by  a  bull,  before  dying,  bound  up  and  ar- 
ranged her  hair  because  she  did  not  wish  to  seem 
to  mourn  in  the  midst  of  glory  and  joy. 

X.  We  hold  a  position  toward  life  corresponding 
to  that  of  the  tourists  toward  the  tea-houses  into 
which  people  take  their  own  provisions.  Every- 
thing that  constitutes  our  pleasures  or  our  sorrows 
is  carried  within  and  drawn  from  our  own  selves. 
External  circumstances  influence  man,  but  man 
acts  upon  circumstances.  He  often  creates  and 
almost  always  modifies  them.  Circumstances 
possess  the  value  which  we  are  able  and  under- 
stand how  to  give  them.  Coarse  souls  remain 
under  the  domination  of  circumstances  as  primi- 
tive ones  do  imder  the  rule  of  the  elements  of 
nature.  By  perfecting  himself,  man  obtains 
more  and  more  mastery  over  events. 


38  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Everything  that  surrounds  us  becomes  angel  or 
fiend  according  to  the  condition  of  our  hearts, 
rightly  asserts  the  author  of  Wisdom  and  Destiny. 
Joan  of  Arc  hears  the  saints  and  Macbeth  the 
witches,  and  nothing  befalls  us  which  is  not  of  the 
same  nature  as  ourselves. 

The  important  thing  is  to  become  better  ac- 
quainted with  our  souls,  an  acquaintance  which 
later  may  aid  in  their  development.  There  can 
be  no  happiness  greater  than  that  of  bringing  our 
life  and  our  thoughts  into  harmony.  When  we 
lead  an  existence  in  conformity  with  our  aptitudes, 
with  the  mysterious  inclinations  of  conscience, 
we  feel  the  most  intense  gratification  that  is 
attainable  by  the  human  race. 

XI.  The  ideal  sense  of  delight  consists  in 
spending  wittingly  our  inward  treasiire.  Daily 
life  vainly  bends  us  to  its  requirements.  Behind 
it,  independent  of  it,  remains  a  vast  and  inaccessi- 
ble empire :  it  is  that  of  our  inner  life.  There  we 
can  live  as  sovereigns,  happy  and  proud  amid  our 
royal  thoughts. 

The  delights  of  the  inner  life  are  completed  by 
those  of  action.  The  return  within  ourselves 
which  does  not  degenerate  into  morbid  reverie, 
develops  our  energy.  The  two  worlds  of  thought 
and  of  action  thus  gain,  in  their  contact,  both 


Happiness  Is  "witKin  Us  39 

intensity  and  purity.  As  sleep,  by  strengthening 
the  organism,  enables  it  to  meet  the  labour  of  the 
day,  salutary  reflection,  the  pilgrimage  into  the 
depths  of  our  ego,  facilitates  our  domination  of 
the  external  world  and  its  utiHsation  for  lofty 
purposes. 

Examples  abound.  Let  us  choose  the  most 
conclusive.  After  having  spent  his  nights  in  writ- 
ing the  book.  On  the  Subject  of  Himself,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  ever  handsome  and  young,  during  the 
day  directs,  in  the  most  admirable  manner,  one 
of  the  most  profitless  expeditions.  In  this  cruel 
campaign  against  the  Quadi  and  the  Marcomanni, 
worn  by  dullness  and  fatigue  on  the  banks  of  the 
Gran  or  the  Danube,  at  Carnuntum  or  Vienna,  the 
best  of  men  draws  from  the  exquisite  intimacy 
of  his  own  ego  the  strength  for  the  military  pro- 
fession he  found  so  distasteful. 

XII.  The  objects  so  ardently  desired  by  all 
somewhat  resem.ble  the  gods  created  by  man,  for 
they  owe  to  man  their  best  qualities.  It  is  man 
who  has  endowed  the  gods  with  all  the  attractions 
which  he  holds  dear.  Their  magnanimity,  their 
omniscience,  their  compassion  for  human  misery, 
their  supernatural  goodness  or  wickedness,  what 
are  all  these  quaHties  if  not  the  gifts  generously 
bestowed  by  man  on  mysterious  beings?     After 


40  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

having  created  them,  he  has  not  ceased  to  adorn, 
to  fear,  and  to  love  them.  Take  away  these 
borrowed  quaHties  and  what  will  be  left?  Let  us 
do  the  same  with  respect  to  the  things  that  we 
covet.  What  will  remain  to  fame,  to  dignities, 
to  all  the  baubles  which  we  so  fervently  desire? 
Nothing,  or  almost  nothing. 

XIII.  In  a  time  of  distress,  astronomers  them- 
selves turn  toward  heaven,  to  seek  there  the  divine 
power  which  is  capable  of  lessening  their  sufferings 
and  of  sharing  their  troubles  here  below.  Yet 
they  are  the  first  to  know  that  they  have  as  much 
chance  of  finding  it  beside  or  below,  as  above  them. 
Power  of  words!  Thine  essence  is  eternal.  In 
vain  do  we  break  so  many  idols,  thine  will  live  as 
long  as  mankind. 

XIV.  From  our  early  youth,  a  benevolent 
fairy  remains  at  our  side,  offering  to  accompany 
us  through  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  and  shields  us 
with  her  ever- watchful  protection.  This  is  no 
fairy  of  legends.  She  exists  and  develops  in  her 
young  and  glowing  beauty.  Invisible,  she  allows 
us  a  glimpse  of  her  sympathetic  virtues  and  of  her 
infinite  charms.  She  embodies  all  the  aspirations 
of  our  lives.  In  her  expressive  personality  are  hid- 
den all  the  sources  of  our  desires,  our  happiness 
or  our  woe.     Riches,  fame,  distinctions,  health, 


Happiness  Is  ^witHin  Us  41 

she  holds  and  offers  to  all  who  come  to  her  and 
will  receive  her  guidance. 

Divine  fairy  that  does  not  cease  to  accompany 
mankind  from  its  humblest  origins,  indefatigable 
in  thy  generosity,  inexhaustible  in  thy  goodness, 
imposing  in  thine  omnipotence,  thy  name  is  will. 

Why  do  we  write  of  the  gods,  asks  the  philo- 
sopher, except  to  win  love  for  the  divine  nature 
within  them,  and  to  show  that  this  divine  nature 
lives  also,  and  will  live  eternally,  in  the  heart  of 
the  human  race?  Why  glorify  the  will,  except  to 
impress  vividly  its  untiring  and  inexhaustible 
action?  It  is  the  beloved  sovereign  who,  unlike 
other  monarchs,  bows  to  the  desires  of  all  who 
love,  revere,  and  are  prepared  to  follow.  It  pro- 
mises much  and  performs  still  more.  Devote 
yourself  to  its  cult  sincerely  and  faithfully,  and  it 
will  place  under  your  rule  the  various  causes  on 
which  your  happiness  depends. 

A  time  will  come  when  all  the  purposes  of  peda- 
gogy will  tend  toward  this  dominant  goal:  the 
liberation  and  development  of  the  will,  and  this 
will  be  the  prelude  of  the  reign  of  Happiness. 

XV.  Let  us  suppose  that  some  day  we  are 
told :  A  god  is  within  you,  a  god  who  asks  nothing 
better  than  to  place  himself  at  your  service.  He 
is  awaiting  your  summons  with  touching  patience. 


42  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Nothing  discourages  him.  His  complaisance  is 
equalled  only  by  his  discretion.  Vainly,  for 
years,  you  have  ignored  him.  Unheeded,  con- 
cealed in  a  corner  of  your  consciousness,  he  waits 
your  pleasure.  But  as  soon  as  you  turn  to  him, 
he  will  come,  calm  and  serene,  at  your  summons. 
His  worship  is  neither  sanguinary  nor  difficult. 
All  that  you  do  for  him  inevitably  profits  only 
yourself.  In  his  boundless  generosity  he  keeps 
nothing  for  himself,  and  will  reward  you  fivefold 
for  whatever  you  wish  to  do  in  his  favour. 

Why,  when  in  quest  of  a  certain  support  and 
powerful  protectors,  do  we  forget  the  ideal  and 
divine  friend  who  offers  us  everything  and  asks 
nothing? 

XVI.  In  all  ages,  chosen  minds  have  bowed 
before  the  benefits  of  the  will.  Kant  goes  so  far 
as  to  say  that  the  will  has  relations  with  the  nou- 
mena.  The  will,  he  teaches  us,  possesses  even  a 
curative  property  Man  can  do  much  by  the  sole 
energy  of  his  will.  Through  its  instrumentality  he 
can  even  modify  his  physical  condition,  save  him- 
self from  hypochondria,  and  conquer  spasmodic 
conditions.  According  to  Kant,  the  will  is  the 
first  condition  of  health. 

With  the  powers  of  suggestion  triumphing,  the 
power  of  the  will  triumphs.     Modern  science  has 


Happiness  Is  -witKin  Us  43 

instituted  almost  a  worship  of  suggestion.  Util- 
ised as  a  beneficent  force,  subordinated  to  the 
reasoning  and  rational  will,  suggestion  might 
radically  transform  and  embellish  our  life. 

The  ancients  knew  the  power  of  suggestion, 
but  to  modern  times  belongs  the  distinction  of 
having  procured  for  us  a  lever  by  which  to  utilise 
it  at  our  pleasure. 

Faith  removes  mountains,  says  a  proverb  as 
old  as  the  world.  The  science  of  hypnotism  and 
of  suggestion  only  serves  as  an  illustration.  Car- 
penter quotes  the  case  of  a  man  who,  though  very 
weak  in  muscles,  one  day  raised  a  heavy  weight 
because  he  believed  it  trivial.  Faith  in  miracles 
produce  miracles.  The  old  sally  of  Pomponatius 
is  still  true:  "You  can  calmly  put  in  the  place 
of  the  bones  of  a  saint  those  of  any  other  skeleton. 
The  cure  would  follow  if  the  patient  were  ignor- 
ant of  the  change. "  And,  in  fact,  the  water  of 
the  Loire  or  of  the  Seine  is  often  as  beneficial  in 
its  effects  as  that  of  Lourdes,  provided  that  the 
invalid  is  not  aware  of  its  origin. 

Under  the  influence  of  concentrated  attention, 
redness  or  pallor  appear  on  the  face,  swellings  of 
the  limbs  and  hemorrhages  take  place,  the  heart 
beats  more  quickly  or  more  slowly,  pains  are  felt 
in  the  places  indicated. 


44  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Goethe  had  already  said:  "Man  can  com- 
mand nature  to  eHminate  from  his  body  all  the 
foreign  elements  which  cause  him  suffering  and 
disease." 

O  sweet  and  intoxicating  power  of  words! 
The  remembrance  of  the  heavenly  joy  which  the 
martyrs  of  every  age  have  felt  is  sufficient  to 
enable  us  to  understand  that  the  human  race  will 
always  bow  beneath  the  yoke  of  the  word  that  has 
become  faith.  Read  in  Rufinus  or  Lucian  the 
tortures  inflicted  in  Lyons  in  the  year  177  upon 
numberless  saints.  They  believed  that  a  divine 
stream  flowed  from  the  side  of  Jesus  to  reanimate 
and  refresh  them.  And  they  felt  revived  and 
refreshed.  The  fragile  Lyonnese  maid-servant, 
Blandine,  exasperated  the  gangs  of  executioners 
by  constantly  asking  for  more  tortures,  more 
suffering.  They  exhausted  all  the  known  tor- 
ments. Her  thirst  for  martyrdom  still  besought 
more.  Suspended  from  a  post,  her  body  was 
exposed  for  several  days  to  the  bites  of  wild  beasts. 
Placed  in  a  red-hot  chair,  her  flesh  was  burned  in 
many  places.  Then,  enclosed  in  a  net,  she  was 
flung  to  a  bull.  The  animal,  at  the  sight  of  this 
burned  and  burning  body,  hurled  it  furiously  into 
the  air,  and  let  it  fall  back  again  to  the  ground. 
Yet  the  gentle  Blandine' s  face  did  not  cease  to 


Happiness  Is  -witKin  Us  45 

express  the  ineffable  joy  of  the  martyr.  Suffering 
became  to  her  the  celestial  joy  of  salvation. 

Deacon  Sanctus  of  Vienna  beheld  with  rapture 
his  body  converted  into  a  bleeding,  deformed  mass. 
His  most  sensitive  parts  were  burned  with  copper 
heated  to  a  white  heat.  Yet  Sanctus  did  not 
cease  to  repeat,  in  a  peaceful  voice,  the  divine 
formula. 

They  believed  that  they  were  at  the  festival 
of  their  glory,  and  all  were  glorious. 

XVII.  What  radiant  horizons  are  opened  to 
us  by  this  material  action  of  the  mind  upon  the 
body.  Are  not  our  whole  lives,  all  our  acts,  our 
happiness,  and  our  troubles,  really  the  results  of 
an  environing  suggestion?  What  is  pedagogy, 
except  such  an  action  exerted  upon  childhood? 
We  live  under  the  empire  of  political,  religious, 
and  social  institutions,  under  the  influence  of 
our  neighbours  and  our  friends,  under  that  of  our 
passions  and  our  feelings. 

Psychotherapy,  the  new  medical  method,  even 
teaches  us  that  certain  diseases  vanish,  as  if  by 
enchantment,  in  consequence  of  suggestions  con- 
tinually repeated.  Let  us  modify  them,  let  us 
lessen  our  susceptibility  to  those  that  poison  our 
lives,  and  render  ourselves  more  sensitive  in  re- 
spect to  beneficial  suggestions.     In  this  way  we 


46  TTKe  Science  of  Happiness 

shall  change  even  our  mode  of  living  and  of  feeling. 
The  transformation  of  the  feelings  affecting  our 
souls  might  render  the  hypochondriac  the  most 
sociable  of  men. 

Alchemists  dream  of  the  transmutation  of  metals. 
With  tireless  zeal,  they  sought  for  means  of  chang- 
ing iron  and  copper  into  gold,  or  of  drawing  from 
gold  the  elixir  of  long  life.  How  much  more 
important  seems  the  ''transmutation"  of  our 
feelings  and  our  sensations!  After  all,  this  is 
possible.  By  devoting  himself  to  it,  man  will 
arrive  at  controlling  external  incidents.  They 
will  become  to  him  precisely  what  his  soul  desires 
that  they  should  be.  The  important  thing  in  the 
events  that  befall  us  is  their  influence  upon  our 
minds.  By  transforming  facts  at  the  dictates  of 
our  soul,  by  allowing  them  to  act  only  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  our  "ego,"  we  shall  dominate  life. 

This  change  is  not  always  easy.  Nothing  is 
more  true  than  this  statement.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, pedagogy  would  become  the  most  exact  of 
all  the  sciences,  and  the  Science  of  Happiness 
would  be  full  of  infallible  dogmas.  We  should 
make  happy  people,  as  we  make  officers  of  the 
academy.  But  Happiness,  ofTering  itself  without 
effort,  would  lose  its  charms. 

To  operate  in  an  efficient  manner,  suggestion 


Happiness  Is  -witHin  Us  47 

requires  a  method,  a  discipline  of  the  mind.  The 
time  is  not  far  off  when  it  will  be  understood  that, 
since  its  first  steps  commence  with  pedagogy,  it 
is  the  part  of  the  latter  to  mark  out  the  first  path. 
Watching  over  the  happiness  of  those  entrusted 
to  its  care,  it  will  endeavour  to  impress  the  young 
souls  with  essential  suggestions  concerning  the 
value  of  wealth,  of  ambition,  of  fame,  or  of 
happiness  itself. 

The  formation  of  the  moral  personality,  we  are 
told,  is  the  purpose  of  pedagogy.  The  formation 
of  the  happy  personality  will  doubtless  be  the 
aim  of  the  pedagogy  of  the  future. 

Let  us  add,  for  the  consolation  of  the  moralists, 
that  the  Science  of  Happiness  will  be  essentially 
moral. 


Ill 

OPTIMISM  AND  PESSIMISM 

I.  What  was  termed,  toward  1830,  the  disease 
of  the  age  is,  in  truth,  the  disease  of  all  the  ages. 
Like  the  bigot  who  dreams  of  Paradise  and  labours 
only  for  the  damnation  of  his  soul,  mankind 
craves  solely  happiness  and  creates  along  its  path 
nothing  but  misery. 

The  human  mind  is  often  only  a  place  of  torture 
where  all  who  enter  are  crucified.  Religion, 
philosophy,  and  literature,  sisters  who  are  fre- 
quently at  odds,  affectionately  clasp  hands,  when 
the  object  is  to  crush  the  joy  and  happiness  of 
their  faithful  friends.  The  futile  tears  which 
religions  have  made  men  shed  would  form  an 
ocean  capable  of  drowning  our  contemporaries. 
Philosophy  and  literature  second  them  to  the  best 
of  their  ability.     All  sow  sadness. 

Then  we  harvest  their  fruits  only  to  fill  our  hearts 

with  bitterness.     Sons  of  ancestors  with  withered 

souls,   we    inherit    their    evil    inclinations,    and 

48 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  49 

add  to  these  the  sorrowful  products  of  our  now 
lives. 

II.  The  condition  of  mind  which  the  Germans 
expressively  define  by  the  word  Katzenjammer 
has  become  the  normal  state  of  the  human  race. 
We  are  in  the  situation  of  people  on  the  morning 
after  nights  of  debauchery  and  insomnia.  Like 
Poland  which  was  intoxicated  when  Augustus 
had  been  drinking,  we  are  suffering  from  the  ex- 
cesses of  our  forefathers. 

Let  us  consider  with  what  eagerness  the  intel- 
lectual guides  of  mankind  devote  themselves  to 
the  task  of  barring  the  way  by  establishing  all  sorts 
of  mental  "no  thoroughfares."  One  would  say 
that  they  see  only  the  darkest,  the  most  dismal 
comers  of  the  mind.  After  having  diligently 
hunted  them  out,  they  take  delight  in  imiprisoning 
us  within.  The  despair  and  dissatisfaction  with 
life  assume  such  varied  forms  that  there  are  some 
for  every  taste.  Alluring  and  subtle  ones  for 
delicate  souls;  repugnant  and  depressing  ones  for 
coarser  souls;  melancholy  ones  for  dreamy  souls; 
those  with  a  slight  make-up  for  feminine  souls; 
profound  ones  for  virile  souls — dull,  disturbed,  or 
limpid,  they  are  coloured  with  every  shade.  As 
vice  assumes  different  aspects,  including  that  of 
virtue,  the  desolation  of  life  often  disguises  itself 
4 


50  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

under  the  charms  of  gaiety.  And  the  scholarly 
person  of  our  day,  stifling  under  the  dense  smoke 
poured  forth  by  the  intellectual  bonfire,  finds 
himself  infinitely  wretched. 

III.  Our  minds  are  the  legitimate  or  illegiti- 
mate children  of  those  that  have  preceded  them. 
Products  of  their  predecessors,  they  preserve 
visible  or  mysterious  traits  of  these  forerunners. 
Cerebral  labour  begins  with  appropriation  and 
not  with  creation.  Pedagogy  aims  only  at  facili- 
tating intellectual  digestion.  The  thoughts  of 
our  lives  are  often  only  the  products  of  well  or 
badly  performed  digestion. 

We  are  often  ignorant  of  our  ancestors,  but 
they  exist  nevertheless.  Our  sensations,  and 
sometimes  our  feelings,  are,  therefore,  only  the 
sensations  and  the  feelings  of  our  masters. 

IV.  Here  is  a  gay  people,  with  a  pleasant 
philosophy.  It  is  regarded  as  a  generous  provider 
of  remedies  for  the  embittered  moods  from  which 
its  neighbours  are  suffering.  We  attribute  to  this 
people  the  most  cheerful,  the  most  harmonious 
conception  of  life.  This  people  is  the  French 
nation.  Yet  we  need  only  pause  before  its  re- 
presentative minds  to  see  that  they  are  corroded 
by  every  evil,  beginning  with  that  of  thought  and 
ending  with  that  of  love.     Whether  it  is  Taine, 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  51 

Baudelaire,  Maupassant,  the  younger  Dumas, 
Renan,  Zola,  the  Goncourts,  Leconte  de  Lisle, 
Anatole  France,  or  Sully- Prudhomme;  Parisians, 
provincials,  cosmopolitans;  poets,  thinkers,  or 
philosophers, — all  show  us,  behind  their  melo- 
dious phrases  and  conventional  smile,  a  soul  con- 
vulsed by  profound  contradictions.  Their  elders 
— Chateaubriand,  Sainte-Beuve,  or  Lamartine — 
also  give  evidence  that  similar  dramas  were  being 
enacted  in  their  minds. 

Finally,  what  shall  be  said  of  Bossuet,  of  Racine, 
of  Comeille,  and  of  so  many  other  famous  authors? 
Yet  these  are  the  men  who  have  formed  our 
imderstanding  and  nourished  the  emotions  of  our 
youth. 

From  all  the  heights  of  French  intellect  escapes 
the  dreariness  of  desolation.  Almost  always  pre- 
sent, it  is  not  always  visible. 

Voltaire,  the  most  well-poised,  the  most  attached 
to  life,  states  gravely  somewhere:  "Happiness  is 
only  a  dream,  and  sorrow  is  real."  And  else- 
where he  says:  "FHes  are  born  to  be  devoured 
by  spiders,  and  men  to  be  devoured  by  troubles." 
True,  at  this  period,  Voltaire  had  suffered  from 
many  acts  of  treachery.  Again  he  tells  us: 
''I  do  not  know  what  the  eternal  life  is,  but  I  do 
know  that  it  is  a  bad  jest. ' '     According  to  Diderot, 


52  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

*' We  exist  only  in  the  bosom  of  grief  and  tears. " — 
**We  are  the  sport  of  uncertainty,  of  errors,  of 
necessity,  of  illness,  of  wickedness,  of  passions, 
and  we  live  among  knaves  and  charlatans  of  every 
description." 

The  moralists  chime  in  with  those  who  are  dis- 
gusted with  life.  La  Rochefoucauld,  Charron, 
La  Bruyere,  Chamfort,  and  Vauvenargues,  all  utter 
the  same  heart-rending  cry,  "Life  is  not  worth 
living."'  The  writers  of  other  countries  are 
distinguished,  perhaps,  by  despondency  that  is 
less  harmonious  and  more  noisy.  The  German 
mind  resembles  most  closely  that  of  the  Hindoos. 
This  remark  is  derived  from  Taine.  The  banks  of 
the  Ganges  and  the  banks  of  the  Spree  have  a 
certain  resemblance,  or  let  us  say  with  Jacquemont, 


"^  Charron's  Sagesse,  the  source  of  inspiration  of  nearly  all  of 
our  writers  of  aphorisms  and  maxims,  is  an  incessant  lamentation 
concerning  the  woes  of  life.  The  "beasts,"  he  affirms,  "have 
great  reason  to  thank  nature,  that  they  have  not  so.  much  mind. 
The  first  proof  of  human  wretchedness  is  that  its  entrance  into  the 
world  is  vile  and  shameful.  There  is  shame  in  creating  it,  hon- 
our in  its  destruction.  There  is  concealment,  the  lights  are  put 
out  while  creating  it ;  there  is  glory  and  display  in  destroying  it — 
the  lamps  are  lighted  to  see  it  die."  "The  two  greatest 
men,"  we  are  told  elsewhere,  "  Caesar  and  Alexander,  each  killed 
more  than  a  million  men,  and  did  not  leave  one  to  succeed  them. " 

What  would  Charron  say, if  he  were  living  in  our  days?  The 
condemnation  of  organised  massacres,  the  glory  of  a  Pasteur 
making  that  of  Napoleon  pale,  would  doubtless  have  spared  him 
the  mournful  sentences  whose  essence  taints  his  Sagesse. 


Optimism   and  Pessimism  53 

"The  absurdity  of  Benares  and  the  absurdity  of 
Germany  have  an  air  of  kinship."  Sorrow  is 
everywhere  the  same;  it  is  only  its  grimaces 
which  vary. 

V.  The  supreme  expression  of  the  melancholy 
which  leaves  its  impress  upon  contemporary  works, 
like  the  autumn  twilight  upon  the  sky,  is  incar- 
nated in  this  never-to-be-forgotten  line  of  Leconte 
de  Lisle: 

Maya!    Maya!    Torrent  of  changing  chimeras! 

This  sadness  is  mingled  with  a  horror  of  the 
universal  death.  Like  the  flow  of  the  tide,  "it 
swells,  mutters,  rolls,  and  goes  from  beach  to 
beach  morning  and  evening."  Pantheist  and 
deist,  sceptic  and  believer,  lover  and  contemptuous 
scomer  of  life,  poets  and  realists,  optimists  and 
pessimists,  all  seem  profoundly  saddened  by  the 
ever  changing  and  ever  uniform  aspects  of  the 
dream  which  constantly  shapes  and  reshapes  itself. 
The  flesh,  tortured  while  living  or  dead  and  flung 
into  the  earth,  the  grass  of  oblivion  which  grows 
over  all  that  we  have  loved,  these  are  the  monoto- 
nous and  heart-rending  sighs  which  nevertheless 
lull  and  do  not  cease  to  lull  humanity. 

Even  those  who  speak  of  the  ceasing  of  life  with 
love,  desire  thus  to  hide  their  fears  of  death,  as 


54  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Baudelaire  pretends  to  be  enraptured  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  final  decay,  which  causes  him  deadly 
shuddering.  The  cry  of  anguish  of  the  author 
of  Meditations  (7th,  ''Despair'')  mournfully  sums 
up  the  inmost  sensations  of  all  those  wounded  in 
the  battle  of  Hfe. 

What  crime  have  we  committed,  to  deserve  to  be 
born? 

And  when  we  reflect  upon  the  genesis  of  this 
lamentation  which,  like  the  dominant  melody  in  a 
Wagnerian  opera,  goes  through  the  literature  and 
the  philosophy  of  these  latter  centuries,  we  dis- 
cover in  the  first  place  a  baleful  heritage  be- 
queathed by  the  Christian  religion,  or  rather  by 
all  the  religions  united. 

VI.  Buddhism  expresses  a  limitless  pessimism. 
It  begins  by  denying  the  creative  principle  and 
ends  by  condemning  life.  All  that  it  accepts 
from  the  latter  is  its  disappearance,  its  extinc- 
tion, Nirvana.  Death  becomes  the  blessed  and 
ardently  desired  crown  of  existence.  Our  life  is 
filled  with  sorrows,  and  these  result  from  long- 
ing. Must  longing  then  be  debarred?  Yet 
how  can  this  be  done,  while  abandoning  exis- 
tence? Reflective  minds  need  not  wait  for  its 
final  disappearance  to  enjoy  the  delights  of  nonent- 


optimism  and  Pessimism  55 

ity.  We  can,  or  rather  we  ought,  to  hasten  the 
arrival  of  death  by  freeing  ourselves  from  the  trou- 
blesome demands  of  life.  The  ears  should  be 
stuffed,  in  order  not  to  hear  its  commands,  its 
desires,  its  aspirations. 

"The  fivefold  attachment  to  terrestrial  things 
is  sorrow,  "  Buddha  teaches. 

"This,  0  monks,  is  the  truth  concerning  sorrow: 
Birth  is  suffering,  old  age  is  suffering,  disease  is 
suffering,  death  is  suffering,  union  with  aught 
unloved  is  suffering,  separation  from  the  beloved 
is  suffering,  and  failure  to  obtain  the  object  of 
desire  is  suffering.  ..." 

Nothing  except  pain  is  produced  in  life,  and 
pain  will  remain  on  the  earth  as  long  as  conscious- 
ness endures.  When  we  go  to  the  source  from 
which  disgust  with  Hfe  has  come  to  us,'  it  is  sur- 
prising to  find  how  pale  and  even  colourless  the 
Schopenhauers  of  all  the  ages  remain  in  com- 
parison with  their  revered  master.  A  feeling  of 
intense  disgust  with  everything  that  constitutes 
the  essence  of  life  animates  the  prophet.  No- 
thing finds  favour  in  the  presence  of  his  disap- 
pointment,  which  penetrates  the    joys  and   the 


^  See  Samyuttaka-Nikaya;  Anguttura-Nikaya;  The  Hours  oj 
Dzammapada,  etc.  See  also  the  classic  sketch  by  M.  Oldenberg: 
Buddha. 


56  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

sorrows  of  life;  man's  triumphs  and  experiences; 
love  and  pleasures. 

"This,  O  monks,  is  the  sacred  truth  concerning 
the  suppression  of  pain.  We  must  utterly  crush 
desire,  renounce  it,  free  ourselves  from  it  and  allow 
it  no  room.  ..." 

"From  joy  is  bom  suffering;  therefore,  whoever 
is  liberated  from  joy,  no  longer  suffers." 

"From  love  is  bom  suffering;  whoever  is  re- 
leased from  love  has  no  anguish.  ..." 

And  the  true  Brahmin  is  he  who,  "liberated  from 
life,  has  found  extinction,"  that  is,  finds  himself 
freed  from  every  desire,  every  weakness. 

The  negative  principle  of  Buddhism  is  also 
transported  into  the  doctrine  of  Cakya-Mouni. 
Contemplation  is  the  object  of  life.  Everything 
that  constitutes  the  joy  and  the  charm  of  existence 
is  rejected,  and  men  merely  vegetate.  The 
supreme  ideal  is  the  unconscious  crumbling  of 
the  years,  which  vanish  in  the  gulf  of  emptiness, 
without  leaving  any  traces  upon  our  personality. 
Man  should  aim  to  resemble  granite,  over  whose 
surface  the  tempests  and  the  rains  glide  without 
leaving  any  trace.  By  dint  of  seeking  to  render 
the  soul  insensible,  it  is  killed.  Reduced  to  the 
state  of  a  corpse,  it  no  longer  feels  anything,  and 
thus  ceases  to  exist. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  57 

The  good  sense  of  the  unprejudiced  man  re- 
mains perplexed  in  the  presence  of  this  multitude 
of  mystic  formulas  behind  which  is  concealed  a 
truth  so  simple — life  is  a  misfortune  which  benefits 
no  one.  But  why  cultivate  it  under  mountains  of 
verbiage,  instead  of  sim.ply  giving  it  a  dismissal. 
Suicide  being  within  the  reach  of  all,  it  is  surprising 
that  it  should  not  have  been  accomplished  by  all 
who  have  preached  the  incurable  evil  inherent  in 
human  life. 

Brahminism  regards  the  world  and  life  as  re- 
grettable accidents. 

Judaism  has  rendered  this  life  very  sombre, 
while  forgetting  to  illuminate  that  of  the  world 
beyond. 

The  predominant  care  of  Christianity  is  to 
poison  the  httle  joys  of  life.  Of  all  the  things  in 
the  world,  says  Pascal,  the  Christian  shares  only 
the  sorrows,  not  the  pleasures.  Yet  Christian- 
ity has  taken  care  to  kindle  the  fires  of  hope 
in  these  vague  and  uncertain  skies.  But  the 
scepticism  of  our  times  has  breathed  pitilessly 
upon  these,  and  the  scattered  dreams  have  left 
behind  only  the  desolation  of  empty  space.  To 
the  privileged  faithful  followers  whom  doubt  has 
spared,  remains  the  divine  luxury  of  souls.  But  ^, 
those  who  can  still  enjoy  this  luxury  are  rare.     So 


58  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

much  the  better  for  the  onward  march  of  human- 
ity, for  this  dehght  of  souls  is  the  death  of  bodies. 
It  is  the  sentence  of  Hfe.  Already,  under  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  civil  society  had  been 
compelled  to  rebel  against  this  form  of  happiness. 
Like  Buddhism,  it  threatened  to  destroy  life. 

VII.  From  all  religions  proceeds  a  breath  of 
despair.  It  blows  through  the  world  like  a  tempest. 
It  also  blows  in  the  form  of  gentle,  scarcely  per- 
ceptible currents  of  air.  It  filters  into  the  most 
mysterious  circumvolution  of  our  brains.  The 
emancipated  thought,  which  appears  to  be  most 
hostile  to  it,  is  also  imbued.  The  pessimists  have 
inherited  the  Hving  or  dead  religions.  The 
German  pessimists,  who  have  left  an  almost 
indehble  imprint  upon  modern  philosophy  and 
Hterature,  only  illumine  with  a  Buddhist  torch 
troubles  which  are  often  utterly  alien  to  our 
latitudes.  And  Hke  the  deliverers  of  olden  times, 
the  pessimists  of  the  present  day  are  toiHng  for 
the  weakening  of  the  vital  foundations  necessary 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
community. 

VIII.  The  rare  principles  of  serenity  preserved 
in  the  Christian  dogmas  are  compromised  in 
our  time.  This  is  chiefly  due  to  the  solvent  in- 
fluence of  the  German  philosophers.     Hartmann 


optimism  and  Pessimism  59 

even  goes  so  far  as  to  base  the  birth  of  Christianity 
upon  sin  and  evil.  Without  these  two  roots, 
Christianity,  he  says,  would  not  have  lived.  And 
since  evil  remains  the  eternal  attribute  of  man, 
only  suicide  could  deliver  us.  Bahnsen  and  his 
co-religionists  preach  the  benefits  of  suicide  for 
the  help  of  others. 

IX.  I  have  never  understood  why  we  speak 
of  the  serenity  of  the  Greek  religion.  Its  concep- 
tions of  death,  and  its  threats  in  regard  to  souls 
in  torment,  appear  inhuman.  They  lack  beauty 
and  proportion.  If  the  ancients  did  not  suffer 
too  keenly  from  them,  it  is  because  their  minds, 
still  young,  less  trained,  had  more  resistance  than 
ours.  After  all,  we  know  less  of  their  life  than  we 
know  of  the  Hfe  of  our  country  neighbours.  Yet 
let  us  admit  that  the  ideas  of  their  dramatists  and 
their  historians  are  deeply  tinctured  by  appre- 
hensions of  a  cruel  and  unjust  fate. 

The  gods  laugh  at  the  arrogant  man,  says  ^s- 
chylus.  Cassandra  laments  over  human  affairs, 
for  if  they  prosper,  a  shadow  annihilates  them. 
The  gods  are  evil  by  nature;  they  envy  man  and 
mankind.  The  chorus  of  Antigone  wails :  "There 
is  no  way  for  mortals  to  elude  the  misfortunes  of 
destiny. "  Sophocles  has  given  utterance  to  some 
thoughts  which  are  worthy  of  the  most  bitter 


6o  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

pessimists.  "The  most  reasonable  thing  is  never 
to  be  born;  but  when  we  have  seen  the  light,  the 
next  best  thing  is  to  return  whence  we  came."' 

Where  shall  we  turn?  From  every  direction 
we  hear  only  mournful  cries.  The  gift  of  penetrat- 
ing the  mysteries  of  the  other  life  has  been  bestowed 
upon  Greek  genius,  but  what  it  brings  back  freezes 
us  with  terror.  Alcestes  (Euripides)  returns 
from  the  realm  of  shades,  pale  and  exhausted, 
almost  dead  himself  from  having  witnessed  so 
many  horrors. 

Theognis  (Elegies)  also  tells  us  that  "it  would 
be  better  not  to  be  born,  but  once  born,  the  best 
thing  would  be  to  pass  the  gates  of  Hades  as  soon 
as  possible."  According  to  Plutarch,  "life  is  a 
punishment  and  man's  greatest  misfortune  is  to  be 
born." 

The  apprehensions  of  the  Hellenes  reappear 
among  the  Romans.  Plin}^  the  Elder  enumerates 
with  cruelty  all  the  woes  of  man.  He  places  him 
below  the  other  species  peophng  our  planet.'' 
The  great  naturalist  thus  paraphrases  the  sally  of 
old  Homer,  according  to  whom  "of  all  the  beings 
that  breathe  and  move  upon  the  earth,  not  one 
is  more  contemptible  than  man."  Seneca  speaks 
of  death  in  the  same  terms  as  do  Sophocles   or 

^  CEdtpus  at  Colonus.  ^  Natural  History  (7th  Book). 


optimism  and  Pessimism  6i 

Theognis.  Is  it  not  for  him  "the  best  invention 
of  nature"?' 

Man  knows  Httle  of  his  ills,  he  tells  us  later,  if 
he  does  not  regard  death  as  the  fairest  invention 
of  nature!  According  to  Seneca,  ''society  re- 
sembles an  association  of  wild  beasts:  the  hus- 
band seeks  to  kill  his  wife,  the  latter  conspires 
against  her  husband,  the  son  looks  forward  to  his 
father's  end;  stepmothers  are  engaged  in  poison- 
ing,''etc. ' 

The  soul  of  the  gentle  Marcus  Aurehus  was 
steeped  in  gloom.  Long  in  advance  of  Hamlet,  he 
torments  himself  before  the  bones  of  the  illustrious 
dead.  ''Alexander  of  Macedonia  and  his  mule- 
driver  have  been  reduced,  after  death,  to  the  same 
condition.  All  is  but  corruption !  "  he  cries.  Like 
that  other  hero  of  Shakespeare,  he  compares  life 
to  an  insipid  force,  "for  all  that  we  esteem  in  life 
is  but  emptiness,  baseness,  corruption." 

Kis  optimism,  in  short,  is  only  the  resignation  of 
a  sufferer. 

The  divine  serenity  of  the  Greeks  and  the 
Romans  is  found  only  in  the  imagination  of  their 
commentators. 

Plato  alone,  in  ancient  times,  frankly  proclaimed 
the  joy  of  Hving.     The  inexhaustible  spring  of  his 

I  Consolations  to  Marcia.  ^  Seneca,  Treatise  on  Anger. 


62  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

optimism  would  have  had  enough  nourishment  for 
future  ages,  but  the  Platonic  golden  thread  was 
soon  submerged  beneath  the  deluge  of  pessimistic 
thoughts.  When  we  find  it  again  among  the  Neo- 
Platonists,  its  principles  have  become  gloomy  and 
dull.  The  same  comment  applies  to  the  Neo- 
Pythagoreans.  Both  schools,  exasperated  at  be- 
ing unable  to  find  truth  through  reason,  think  that 
they  discover  it  in  death.  Thus  in  the  dwelling 
of  the  bard  of  Hfe  sprang  up  the  growth  "non- 
existence."' 

The  cause  of  the  deception  of  the  historians  is 
the  paradisaical  life  of  the  ancient  gods.  All  the 
mirth  having  been  once  gathered  in  Olympus, 
scarcely  anything  remained  for  poor  humanity. 
The  Christian  hell,  borrowed  from  Homer's  realm 
of  shades,  affords  us  an  after-taste  of  what  must 
be  the  posthumous  life  of  the  children  of  Hellas. 
For  all  that  is  buried  is  not  always  dead.  And  the 
divinities  that  for  ages  have  fallen  into  decay  do 
not  cease  to  shed  their  melancholy  smile  upon  the 
life  of  our  own  day. 

Let  us  be  just.     The  theistic  and  polytheistic 

^  We  may  say  also  that  the  Greek  atmosphere  lent  itself  so 
little  to  serene  optimism  that  PJato  himself  cannot  help  preferring 
death  to  life.  His  Phcedon  shows  us  that  the  sage's  whole  soul 
is  eager  to  go  to  death,  and  that  this  is  the  sole  object  of  his 
thoughts. 


Optimisixi  and  Pessimism  63 

religions  have  no  monopoly  of  despair.  Almost  all 
the  modem  doctrines  of  immanence  (pantheistic, 
which  ought  to  draw  from  Nature  reasons  for  joy) 
find  only  the  accents  of  desolation.  The  Absolute 
of  Schelling  thus  is  united  with  the  Idea  of  Hegel, 
the  Will  of  Schopenhauer,  the  Unconscious  of 
Hartmann. 

X.  The  modern  soul  becomes  incensed  amid 
the  pain  of  living,  of  thinking,  of  dying.  The 
meaning  of  Hfe  appears  to  be  perverted.  Turned 
toward  the  real,  or  losing  itself  in  dreams,  it  always 
betrays  a  profound  restlessness,  which  unsettles 
existence  as  a  little  carbonic  gas  disturbs  a  bottle 
of  pure  water.  The  equilibrium  of  the  molecules 
being  disturbed,  their  harmony  is  not  dis- 
coverable. 

There  is  room  for  a  Saviour  who  will  some  day 
destroy  the  causes  of  the  whirlpool  and  restore  to 
the  human  soul  its  pure  and  refreshing  clarity. 

Perhaps  the  task  will  not  be  a  very  easy  one. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  believe  that  the  white  light  is 
entirely  simple.  It  is  composed  of  seven  colours. 
The  clearness  of  the  soul  is  the  result  of  many 
combinations,  which  must  be  discovered  and  dif- 
fused throughout  the  world. 

XL  In  the  interval,  let  us  admire  all  that 
human  ingenuity  has  imagined  and  invented  to 


64  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

jeopardise  our  happiness.  Its  efforts,  if  we  piled 
up  the  aggregate  of  all  the  ages  and  of  all  the 
nations,  would  form  a  mountain  capable  of  hiding 
the  sun.  Look  at  a  single  islet  of  the  mind,  the 
corner  of  a  century  of  French  intellectuality.  Ana- 
lyse poets  like  Baudelaire  or  Musset,  Lamartine 
or  de  Vigny,  philosophers  like  Renan  or  Taine, 
novelists  like  Flaubert,  Maupassant,  Goncourt, 
Zola,  or  their  descendants,  historians,  sociologists, 
and  you  wi'l  find  among  all  these  representatives 
of  the  French  mentality  of  the  second  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  same  feeHng  of  disgust  with 
life.  Sensual  or  depraved,  refined  or  sublimated, 
rational,  raving,  or  resigned,  the  pessimistic  con- 
ception dominates.  It  assumes  every  form,  but 
these  forms  cover  the  same  desolation. 

Those  who  have  studied  the  overflowing  sadness 
of  all  these  disenchanted  souls  attribute  their 
melancholy  chiefly  to  the  riot  of  romance.  This  is 
one  of  the  causes,  but  it  is  not  the  only  one. 
Their  melancholy  dates  back  a  good  deal  farther, 
and  the  germs  may  be  found  in  Lucretius  or  among 
forgotten  thinkers  and  philosophers  of  whose  very 
names  we  are  ignorant.  Artists  and  authors, 
with  their  deeper  sensibility,  and  their  almost 
morbid  impressionability,  allow  themselves  to  be 
more  influenced  by  the  afflictions  which  fill  the 


optimism  and  Pessimism  65 

air.  They  submit  more  easily  to  big  words  which 
often  do  not  shelter  big  realities.  The  life  without 
and  the  life  within  rarely  harmonise  in  their  souls, 
which  are  exposed  to  every  tempest.  Imbued 
with  dark  ideas,  their  sensibility  becomes  still 
more  inflamed,  and,  ever  astir,  refers  everything 
to  disappointment  and  sorrow. 

A  great  poet  who  is  regarded  as  a  great  philo- 
sopher, Alfred  de  Vigny,  intoxicated  by  all  the 
theoretical  deceptions  which  his  soul  had  imbibed 
as  a  sponge  absorbs  the  liquid  within  its  reach, 
declared  with  the  firmness  which  an  ideological 
conviction  bestov/s,  that  ''hope  is  the  greatest  of 
our  follies. " '  In  this  prison  called  life,  whence  we 
go  forth  one  after  another  to  death,  we  can  expect 
no  walk,  no  flower.  According  to  the  happy  de- 
finition of  Remy  de  Gourmont,  it  is  "the  point 
of  honour  of  boredom."  We  must  be  bored, 
"it  is  a  sort  of  higher  duty."  This,  moreover, 
is  the  pet  word  of  many  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  of  the  poets  and  novelists  who  will  succeed 
him. 

Leconte  de  Lisle  even  endeavoured  to  surpass 
it  by  plainly  entreating  divine  death  to  liberate  us 
from  time,  quantity,  and  "space."  He  besought 
it  to  restore  the  repose  which  life  had  disturbed. 

^  A.  de  Vigny,  Journal. 
5 


66  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

As  existence  did  not  contain  a  sufficient  number 
of  the  germs  of  despair  to  satisfy  him,  he  sought  to 
borrow,  and  did  so  among  the  Hindoo  poets  and 
philosophers. 

There  is  a  sort  of  fraternity  of  dull  despair 
which  unites  in  its  ramifications  the  entire  world. 
Vanished  generations  have  left  their  griefs  in  it, 
and  those  of  modern  times  constantly  add  to  the 
fund.  Widen  the  base  of  observation,  advance 
toward  those  who  appear  to  be  influenced  by  the 
harmony  of  life; — ^you  will  find' the  same  anguish 
of  hearts,  concealed  beneath  the  charms  of  smiling 
irony.  The  greatest  genius  among  them,  Anatole 
France,  will  even  tell  you  that  life  resembles  a 
huge  manufactory  of  pottery,  where  all  kinds  of 
vases  are  made  for  unknown  purposes,  several 
of  which,  broken  in  the  mould,  are  cast  aside  as 
worthless  fragments  without  ever  having  been 
used.  These  are  the  children  who  die.  Others 
are  employed  only  for  absurd  or  disgusting 
uses.  These  vessels,  France  says,  are  we 
ourselves. 

Elsewhere,  the  gentle  philosopher  Anatole 
France  speaks  with  still  less  caution  of  the  entire 
solar  system,  which,  he  asserts,  is  only  a  Gehenna, 
where  the  animal  is  born  for  suffering  and 
death. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  67 

Even  those  whose  mission  is  to  brighten  our 
existence  frequently  offer  us  only  a  soul  tinged 
with  the  emanations  of  the  universal  sorrow,  which 
in  spite  of  or  against  their  wishes  filters  into  it 
with  their  personal  vexations  or  with  the  deceptions 
that  escape  from  most  of  the  moral  or  intellec- 
tual systems. 

As  a  grain  of  sand  is  sufficient  to  warp  our 
mental  machinery,  a  misinterpretation  of  a  moral 
problem  also  suffices  to  overthrow  for  ever  the 
serenity  of  our  souls.  An  incorrect  conception  of 
death  or  of  the  future  life  has  doubtless  disturbed 
our  inward  peace  far  more  than  the  most  essen- 
tial conditions  of  our  daily  life.  Thus  it  happens 
that  even  the  gayest  writers  are  often  a  prey  to 
dismal  melancholy. 

The  case  of  Mark  Twain,  one  of  the  greatest 
humourists  of  our  times,  is  very  typical  in  this  re- 
spect. In  his  little  book  What  is  Man?,  published 
under  the  screen  of  anonymity  and  distributed 
among  his  friends.  Twain  reveals  the  sufferings 
caused  by  his  "  determinist ' '  faith.  The  idea  that 
we  are  only  mere  instruments  fashioned  by  cir- 
cumstances which  deprive  us  for  that  very  reason 
of  all  merit,  all  originality,  and  leave  us  merely 
the  humiliation  cf  being  simply  machines  upon 
which    we     cannot    even    exercise    any    control, 


68  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

deeply  tortures  his  mind.  In  his  Dialogues 
between  the  Old  Man  and  the  Young  Man, 
the  latter 's  soul  is  seen  gradually  invaded  by 
grief  for  vanished  dreams. 

'*  Then  cannot  God  make  an  honest  man  in 
the  real  meaning  of  the  word?  "  asks  the  Young 
Man.  Twain  answers :  ''  No  doubt  He  might  have 
done  so,  but  He  never  has. " 

Thus  may  be  explained  many  little  master- 
pieces of  this  exquisite  story-teller  where,  behind 
faces  illumined  by  a  smile,  we  .perceive  mournful 
dramas  hidden  in  the  background  of  men  and  of 
events. 

While  small  minds  bewail  their  own  fate,  great 
ones  whelm  in  their  despair  the  entire  world. 
They  even  include  inanimate  matter. 

Literature,  which  guides  and  inspires  our  sen- 
sibility, does  not  cease,  as  if  intentionally,  to  feed 
it  upon  the  disenchantment  of  life.  So  many 
generations,  bowed  under  the  burden  of  this 
morbid  heredity,  nevertheless  rise  smiling  on  the 
present,  and  cherishing  the  dream  of  the  future! 
So  there  is  something  in  our  "ego"  stronger  than 
this  layer  of  pessimist  alluvium.  This  mysterious 
element,  constantly  repressed  and  stifled,  ever 
young  and  living,  must  be  inherent  in  human 
nature. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  69 

What  matter  whether  it  is  innate  or  acquired? 
The  essential  thing  is  that  it  shows  itself  under  the 
influence  of  life  itself.  It  makes  the  child  laugh 
and  gives  to  mature  age  joy  in  effort. 

''Perhaps  the  philosophy  of  Julian  Sorel  was 
true,  "  cries  Stendhal,  "but  its  natiire  was  to  make 
us  desire  death."  No,  it  is  false,  because  we  do 
not  cease  to  desire,  and  to  be  keenly  interested 
in,  life. 

No,  it  is  false.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  we 
need  only  look  around  us.  All  our  efforts  are 
summed  up  in  these  few  words:  Make  life  longer 
and  happier.  Faith  in  life,  instinctive  and  pro- 
found, does  not  cease  to  mock  its  time-honoured 
foes. 

XII.  Let  us  observe  the  great,  the  greatest 
of  the  human  race,  those  who  dream  only  of  anni- 
hilation, and  we  shall  see  that  they  love  the  less 
substantial  things  at  the  disposal  of  life:  worldly 
success,  living  or  posthumous  renown.  Monu- 
ments of  insensibility,  they  bleed  through  all  the 
pores  of  their  "ego."  In  short,  they  love  life. 
In  spite  of  themselves,  they  show  it  to  others  when 
they  are  sincere.  They  are  imbued  with  this 
love,  and  do  not  hide  it  when,  mere  comedians, 
they  labour  only  for  the  applause  of  the  crowd. 
Victims  of  their  parts,  they  often  resemble  those 


70  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

actors  who  consider  themselves  wretched  after 
being  poisoned  by  the  speeches  of  the  Marquis  de 
Posa  or  of  Chatterton. 

But  lo!  a  smile  from  life,  and  the  most  morose 
lose  their  masks.  Schopenhauer,  the  most  im- 
placable among  the  scorners  of  existence,  fled 
from  Berlin  in  1831,  driven  out  by  the  cholera. 
While  preaching  the  suicide  of  the  world  through 
the  absolute  continence  of  the  sexes,'  he  becomes 
the  father  of  an  illegitimate  child.  An  ardent 
patriot,  he  buys  presentation  swords  for  his  com- 
rades, but  takes  care  not  to  go  to  the  war  himself. 
According  to  him,  the  deaf  and  the  blind  are 
happy. ""  The  former  do  not  hear,  the  latter  do 
not  see  their  contemporaries.  But  Schopenhauer 
spent  his  life  in  theatres  and  gatherings  where 
people  enjoy  themselves  and  talk.  In  reality 
he  worships  life,  and  only  seeks  to  inspire  a  dis- 
gust for  it  in  other  people's  minds.  He  despises 
money,  but  he  carefully  secretes  it  and  spends 
it  with  the  hesitation  of  a  miser.  Whoever 
teaches  that  our  life  is  the  happier  in  proportion 
to  its  brevity,  plans  to  enjoy  it  to  the  utmost 
limit. 

His  "delirium  of  enormity,"  a  cruel  malady 
which  held  him  under  its  control  nearly  all  his 

*  The  World  as  Will  and  Idea.         ^  Parerga  and  Paralipomena, 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  71 

life,  exasperated  him.  He  believed  himself  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest  of  men,  and  there  were  only  a 
dozen  friends  and  admirers  to  recognise  the  fact. 
So  the  irascible  philosopher  consoled  himself  by 
covering  with  contempt  the  human  species  which 
was  incapable  of  rising  to  his  heights. 

It  is  well  to  keep  constantly  awake  "in  our  soul 
the  scorn  deserved  by  the  majority  of  men,"  he 
wrote  in  a  note-book  which  he  entitled  Spicilegia. 
"Let  your  tone  make  those  around  you  understand 
.  .  .  I  am  not  like  you.''  Elsewhere  he  told  us 
that  "a  missionary  of  the  truth  to  the  human  race, 
like  himself,  ought  not  to  fraternise  with  human 
beings."  But  this  despiser  of  men  noted  at  the 
same  time,  with  morbid  satisfaction,  ''that  an 
Englishman,  who  had  merely  seen  me,  said  that  I 
must  possess  an  extraordinary  intelligence." 

"A  Frenchman  remarked  concerning  me:  'He 
is  a  superior  being.'  An  Italian,  who  was  an 
entire  stranger,  greeted  me  with  these  words: 
'Sir,  you  must  have  done  something  great.  I  do 
not  know  what  it  is,  but  I  see  it  in  your  face.' " ' 

Within  him  were  two  beings  and  two  minds. 
Was  his  system  the  philosophical  expression  of 
his  life,  ^  or  was  it  in  contradiction  to  the  course  of 

^  Griesbach,  Gespraeclie  tend  Selhstgespraeche. 
'  E.  von  Mayer,  Schopenhauer  Aesthetik. 


72  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

his  existence?'  The  undeniable  fact  exists.  His 
philosophy  was  written  on  the  margin  of  his  life. 
The  tragedy  of  the  universal  misery  is  only  his 
personal  tragedy,  amplified  and  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  an  epic.  He  suffered  martyrdom,  because 
his  sensibility  was  morbid  to  excess.  He  felt  not 
only  the  stings  of  fate,  but  also  those  of  his  own 
mind.  And  withal,  he  was  fiery  and  passionate. 
But  for  the  melancholy  which  held  him  aloof 
from  the  world,  he  would  have  ruined  his  health 
very  speedily,  destroyed  by  the  orgy  of  the  senses. 
The  contradiction  in  his  mental  tendencies  enabled 
him  to  recover  himself.  He  lived  in  and  through 
his  ideas.  He  pondered  over  the  cruel  destiny 
of  man  until  the  moment  when  his  own  destiny, 
released  by  age  from  the  inconsistencies  of  his 
temperament,  and  by  success  from  the  cruel- 
ties of  fate,  permitted  him  to  regard  the  world 
differently. 

He  had,  moreover,  an  intuitive  sense.  He 
wrote  as  an  artist  with  a  rare  and  penetrating 
faculty  of  vision.  He  not  only  went  to  the  heart 
of  things,  but  far  beyond.  Behind  the  sadness 
that  surrounded  him,  he  penetrated  to  the  misery 
of  the  world. 

In  a  page  of  subtle  analysis,  one  of  his  bio- 

^  Kuno  Fischer,  Schopenhauer. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  73 

graphers^  thus  describes  his  exceptional  vision: 
*'He  sees  with  a  glance  whose  keenness  no  one  has 
equalled  the  imposition  of  everything  that  con- 
stitutes the  joy  of  life:  the  emptiness  of  pleasures, 
the  vanity  of  love,  which  makes  the  individual  the 
unconscious  servant  of  the  race." 

But  his  senses  do  not  subscribe  to  the  judgment 
of  his  intelligence,  and  the  dualism  which  follows 
was  abolished  only  by  old  age  and  success.  Both 
soothed  his  sensibility  and  his  irritated  uneasiness, 
which  used  the  dark  sides  of  life  to  fabricate  his 
thoughts  of  sorrow  and  disappointment.  For 
his  hatred,  as  well  as  his  scorn  of  m.ankind,  formed 
only  a  superficial  layer  of  his  consciousness.  In 
the  depths  lay  faith  in  the  better  destinies  of  his 
fellow-creatures.  He  even  believed  in  progress  and 
in  human  perfectibility.  The  "shallow  and  im- 
becile" optimism  which  he  accused  of  every  crime 
and  did  not  cease  to  flout  and  ridicule  so  long  as  he 
was  a  victim  of  his  own  sorrows,  sharpened  by  his 
morbid  sensibility,  took  the  opportunity  for  re- 
venge and  exhibited  him  in  amazing  changes.  The 
contradictions  between  what  he  desired  to  make 
us  believe,  and  what  he  believed  later,  were 
flagrant  and  profound.  Have  not  people  gone  so 
far  in  recent  times  as  to  write  a  sketch,  which  is 

^  Th.  Ruyssen,  Schopenhauer. 


74  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

not  paradoxical,  upon  the  Optimism  of  Schopen- 
hauer,'' for  he  himself  makes  the  essential  foun- 
dations of  his  theory  crumble,  by  admitting  in 
his  last  work  the  possibility  of  happiness,  and 
giving  us  counsels  from  his  own  experience  for 
its  enjoyment.  "^  Carried  away  by  this  confes- 
sion, so  alien  to  his  mind  and  to  his  temperament, 
he  desires  the  life  of  a  centenarian  to  profit  by 
the  fruits  of  his  own  wisdom  and  by  the  charms  of 
existence  which  he  had  known  how  to  secure. 

While  his  entire  system  of  morality  revolves 
around  the  dogmas  relating  to  the  unchangeable 
character  of  man,  or  the  wickedness  which  results 
from  knowledge  and  experience,  he  later  insisted 
upon  the  benefits  which,  nevertheless,  may  be 
derived  from  these. 

The  man  who  never  ceases  to  talk  of  the  death 
of  all  the  religions,  ends  by  lauding  his  own. 
The  triumph  of  his  true  philosophy  will  cause  the 
smiling  death  (euthanasia)  of  all  religions.  And 
naturally  mankind  would  then  realise  great  progress 
and  would  thus  advance  toward  a  better  destiny. 

His  hatred  of  Christianity  (because  it  had  in- 
herited, among  other  things,  from  Judaism  its 
faith  in  free  will  and  in  salvation  by  works)  was 

'  St.  Rz^wuski. 

'  See  his  Aphorismes  sur  la  sage  conduite  de  la  vie. 


optimism  and  Pessimism  75 

insensibly  modified  and  he  might  be  surprised  in 
unconscious  coquetry  with  the  New  Testament. 
The  religion  of  the  Jews  had  been  odious  to  him, 
and  had  engendered  his  philosophical  anti-semit- 
ism,  which,  by  a  cruel  irony  of  things,  was  after- 
ward adopted  by  the  most  fervent  believers  in  the 
dogmas  branded  and  vilified  by  Schopenhauer. 

But  the  New  Testament,  under  the  influence  of 
Vedism,  which  had  penetrated  its  first  essence, 
had  also  conceived  of  the  salvation  by  grace,  that 
is  by  absence  of  occupation  and  prayer.  For  that 
very  reason,  it  was  determinist  to  the  utmost, 
directed  against  personal  responsibility  and  the 
desire  to  live.  The  Judaising  elements,  however, 
were  on  the  watch.  In  this  conflict,  waged  from 
the  dawn  of  Christianity,  between  the  Vedic 
influence  and  that  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
latter  has  had  the  upper  hand.  The  ethics  and 
the  faith  of  Brahminism  and  of  Buddhism,  battered 
down,  finally  ended  by  separating  from  Christian- 
ity, which,  distorted,  and  showing  a  bastard  form, 
became  odious  to  the  philosopher  of  Frankfort 
and  harmful  to  the  human  race. 

But  this  destroyer  of  Christianity  dreamed  only 
of  founding  another  religion  with  Schopenhauer 
as  prophet,  and  to  render  this  religion  viable  he 
resorted    to   all   sorts   of   superstitions,    notwith- 


76  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

standing  the  fact  that  he  constantly  scoffed  at  the 
Christians  because  of  their  superstitions. 

He  even  had  the  audacity  to  tell  us  that  certain 
inspirations  to  which  he  owed  his  redemption 
came  to  him  directly  from  the  "Holy  Spirit."^ 
Nay  more.  Far  from  limiting  himself  to  inactivity, 
the  only  consistent,  normal  consequence  of  his 
doctrine,  he  employed  all  the  resources  of  his  dia- 
lectic to  effect  the  adoption  of  his  faith,  his  religion. 
He  made  allusion  to  "apostles,"  to  "dogmas," 
to  "evangelists."  He  admitted  "his  worship" 
by  "images  and  relics." 

What, becomes  of  his  radical  pessimism  under 
these  circumstances?  Especially,  what  becomes 
of  that  forlorn  life,  the  daughter  of  blind  will? 
What  becomes  of  the  task,  which,  according  to  him, 
was  imposed  upon  the  will  that,  conscious  of 
itself,  had  only  a  single  mission :  that  of  abolishing 
its  work  by  the  total  cessation  of  desire? 

Having  fallen  from  the  top  of  a  sixth  story,  we 
find  ourselves  unexpectedly  placed  in  a  comfort- 
able bed,  and  receive  for  pillow  a  gospel  redolent 
of  all  the  emanations  of  a  happy  life,  mingled 
with  those  of  the  holy  Vedic  and  Christian  Biblical 
writings. 

With  an  artlessness  that  provokes  a  smile,  he 

^  New  Paralipomena, 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  77 

mentioned  quasi  miracles  of  which  his  doctrine 
seemed  to  be  the  object.  And  this  sublime 
scorner  of  religions,  of  progress,  and  of  the  desire 
to  live,  is,  after  all,  only  a  haughty,  misguided 
man  who  uses  all  the  weapons  presented  by  his 
frequently  ingenious,  profound,  and  original  mind, 
to  re-estabHsh  and  fortify  the  ideas  that  he  has 
made  it  his  mission  to  combat. 

M.Ernest  Seilliere  said  justly  that  Schopenhauer, 
after  all,  was  ''only  a  mystical  Christian  who 
rejected  the  fetters  of  dogma  and  the  burden  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline." 

Precisely  because  he  was  mystical,  or  rather 
romantic  in  the  highest  degree,  he  has  succeeded 
in  influencing  all  whose  earnest  souls  tend  toward 
the  mystery  and  the  reveries  developing  from  the 
reverses  of  life.  But  there  are  few  who  are  free 
from  these  tendencies.  The  enumeration  of  the 
minds  which  have  received  and  still  receive  the 
imprint  of  his  pessimism^  sheds  a  blinding  light 
upon  the  mystical  appetites  with  which  even  those 
most  rebellious  to  this  current  show  themselves 
imbued.  ^ 

'  Schopenhauer  (Chez  Blond). 

2  Nietzsche,  Schopenhauer  als  Erzieher.  According  to  E. 
SeilHere,  among  his  direct  or  indirect  disciples  must  be  num- 
bered  Richard  Wagner,  Nietzsche    Tolstoy,  and    in   the  Latin 


78  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Certain  sides  of  Schopenhauer's  talent  and  logic 
have  only  strengthened  the  influence  of  the  mys- 
tical and  romantic  portion  of  his  work:  the 
simplicity  of  his  doctrine;  his  clear,  exact,  often 
caustic  and  witty  style;  his  work,  comparable  to 
that  of  a  work  of  art,  for  it  proceeds  from  the 
direct  vision  of  things;  his  thoughts,  which  de- 
velop almost  by  the  means  of  intuition,  "at  times, " 
as  he  himself  said,  **when  all  will  was  slumbering 
heavily  and  judgment  was  uncontrolled";  his 
ideas  finally,  collected  into  several  volumes,  which 
offer  us  the  entirety  of  all  the  philosophical  and 
moral  sciences,  beginning  by  a  system  of  nature, 
one  of  religion,  an  ontology,  a  philosophy  of  law 
and  of  history,  an  individual  and  collective  psy- 
chology, and  a  theory  of  knowledge.  He  has 
known  how  to  deal  an  almost  decisive  blow  to  the 
morality  of  the  categorical  imperative,  that 
invulnerable  and  invincible  nightmare  of  all 
modern  moralists,  and  these  are  so  many  reasons 
which  have  not  ceased,  and  never  will  cease,  to 
attract  the  modern  soul  toward  his  pessimism, 
which  is  often  pernicious  and  dissolvent.  By 
exerting  an  action  either  direct  or  through  a 
surrounding  atmosphere  pervaded  by  his  thought, 

countries  Renan,  d'Annunzio,  etc.,  without  mentioning  the  French 
represented  by  various  schools  (Remy  de  Gourmont,  etc.). 


optimism  and  Pessimism  79 

this  philosopher  of  dismal  appearance  will  doubt- 
less continue  to  poison  our  reasoning.  But  we 
need  only  look  behind  his  apparent  doctrine,  in- 
tended to  scandalise  and  impress  his  contempora- 
ries, to  the  more  matured  one  which  his  own 
experience  has  succeeded  in  grafting  upon  the 
first,  to  conceive  and  to  comprehend  the  abyss 
which  separates  the  reality  from  our  theoretical 
speculations. ' 

The  song  of  the  siren  of  disenchantment  often 
has  irresistible  modulations.  It  calls  and  urges 
us  toward  the  gulf.  But  on  reaching  its  frightful 
chasm,  we  perceive,  first  of  all,  the  disappearance 
of  her  who  drew  us  there.  When,  perplexed, 
we  rush  to  find  her,  we  see  her  seated  calmly  in  a 
delightful  shelter  from  which  she  smiles  upon  life 
and  carefully  thrusts  aside  everything  which 
might  sully  or  disturb. 

Toward  the  end  of  his  days,  he  abandoned  the 
part  which  he  had  assumed.  Fame  took  him  by 
surprise,  smoothed  his  brow,  and  removed  the 
sour  expression  from  his  face.  Artists  flocked  to 
paint  his  portrait,  women  to  deify  him,  disciples 

^  A  whole  literature  exists  in  the  world  to  prove  that,  after  all, 
Schopenhauer's  doctrine,  so  contemptuous  of  romanticism,  really 
owes  to  it  its  origin,  and  is  deeply  imbued  by  its  spirit.  See 
among  others  the  works  of  Hoefifding,  M.  Meyer,  Hettner,  Ruy- 
ssen,  Seilli^re,  etc. 


8o  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

to  weep  with  him  over  the  miseries  of  the  world. 
All  found  an  old  man  who  was  deHghted  to  live. 
The  bugbear  of  men  became  a  charmer  by  whom 
they  were  attracted  and  fascinated. 

The  inability  to  grasp  the  value  of  life,  to  enjoy 
its  good  sides  and  to  combat  its  evil  ones,  is  merely 
the  result  of  circumstances.  The  cruelties  of  the 
individual's  fate  are  often  far  more  responsible 
than  are  the  defects  inherent  in  the  world  order. 
Remove  from  the  calumniators  of  life  the  private 
reasons  that  render  it  odious  to  them,  and  you 
will  remove  the  venom  from  their  souls. 

The  rational  being,  which  man  ought  pre- 
eminently to  be,  frequently  shows  himself  the 
most  irrational.  Compelled  to  accompany  his 
inevitable  companion,  life,  and  having  the  con- 
dition of  his  existence  solely  in  and  through  it, 
he  will  make  it  odious,  for  the  mere  pleasure  of 
being  able  to  speak  evil  of  it.  He  will  do  violence 
to  his  logic  and  will  invent  the  most  outrageous 
fables  in  order  to  intensify  his  own  sufferings  and 
to  multiply  those  of  his  neighbour.  Nay,  he  will 
even  protest  that  those  who  rebel  against  his 
calumnies,  and  oppose  to  them  a  more  accurate 
conception  of  men  and  things,  are  only  Philistines 
of  contemptible  and  inferior  essence. 

As  the  "Will  to  live"  does  not  appear  to  him 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  8i 

sufficiently  mischievous,  a  Hartmann  will  sub- 
stitute for  it  his  Unconscious;  and  by  dwelling 
upon  this  power,  which  he  never  enabled  us  to 
comprehend,  he  decapitated  on  his  way  all  the 
causes  that  facilitated  for  us  the  harmony  with 
existence.  His  divagations  are  summed  up  as 
follows : 

Happiness?  Formerly  it  was  placed  among  the 
blessings  of  this  world.  Happiness  was  youth, 
goodness,  beauty,  fame.     This  belief  is  at  an  end. 

Our  happiness  has  been  transplanted  into  an 
inaccessible  and  ultra- terrestrial  world,  into  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  But  it  has  been  perceived 
that  the  point  in  question  concerns  only  the  il- 
lusions of  our  imagination,  which  have  no  more 
consistency  than  our  dreams. 

This  happiness  has  been  finally  placed  in  a 
strange  building  of  future  humanity,  but  how  can 
these  distant  and  non-existent  hopes  compensate 
for  the  troubles  of  our  life  here  below? 

By  following  out  his  idea  to  the  end,  Hartmann 
would  teach  the  benefits  of  a  cosmic  suicide.  The 
author  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Unconscious 
would  discount  in  advance  the  discovery  of  a 
scientific  apparatus  which  might  repair  the  error 
and  the  crime  of  the  Unconscious  through  which 
we  have  been  born  and  live. 


/47io4 


82  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

Only  his  cosmic  logic  has  paused  at  the  thresh- 
old of  his  own  person. 

This  apostle  of  death  in  common  has  yielded 
to  his  love  of  life  by  the  side  of  his  fellow-men. 
And  this  life  has  remained  dear  in  spite  of  all  the 
ugliness  in  which  he  had  garbed  it. 

Surpassing  his  master,  E.  von  Hartmann'  even 
maintained  the  sole  conclusion  which  follows 
logically  from  the  premises  established  by  Buddha 
and  taken  up  again  by  his  Occidental  pupils. 
The  world  has  only  to  disappear. 

God  Himself  has  finally  perceived  the  insuffi- 
ciency and  the  imperfection  of  His  work.  Lofty 
morality  consists  in  man's  co-operation  "in  order 
to  shorten  this  pathway  of  suffering  and  of  re- 
demption.'* 

Let  us  listen  to  Hartmann.  How  was  the  world 
created  ?  The  German  philosopher  gravely  teaches 
us  that  God,  being  unhappy  in  His  eternity,  has 
amused  Himself  by  launching  the  infinite  series 
of  phenomena  which  form  the  world,  in  order  to 
afford  Himself  diversion.  Evil  has  resulted,  for 
His  misfortune  has  only  increased.  Passing  from 
this  singular  ontology  into  real  life,  Hartmann 
rejoices  that  a  day  will  come  when  human  beings, 
in  consequence  of  the  progress  of  science  and  dis- 

"  Phenomenology  of  the  Moral  Consciousness. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  83 

coveries,  will  obtain  an  explosive  powerful  enough 
to  blow  up  a  universe. 

Our  planet  having  disappeared,  God  will  be 
delivered  at  the  same  time  as  man. 

This  eccentric  doctrine  forgets,  for  the  occasion, 
the  modest  part  that  the  earth  plays  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  universe.  Thinking  only  of  his  own 
salvation  and  of  that  of  his  brothers,  Hartmann  has 
completely  forgotten  the  fate  of  the  Lord,  who, 
after  the  disappearance  of  the  earth,  is  obliged  to 
contemplate  the  countless  millions  of  stars,  whose 
persistent  existence  will  not  cease  to  weary  and 
displease  Him.  There  is  something  greater  than 
the  eternal  misfortune  that  weighs  upon  this 
world,  and  that  is  the  dismal  fancy  of  the  philo- 
sophers who  try  to  cure  us  of  it. 

The  Unconscious  of  Hartmann,  which  has  thus 
replaced  the  Will  of  Schopenhauer,  is  scarcely 
more  exhilarating.  It  might  be  said  that  his 
Unconscious  possesses  almost  a  conscious  wicked- 
ness, for  that  is  what  produces  the  evil  and  the 
cruel  illusions  of  happiness. 

Pain  is  everything  in  our  life,  and  pleasure  plays 
no  part  in  it.  Even  in  an  equal  degree  pain  has  a  co- 
efficient higher  than  that  of  pleasure.  ' '  An  animal 
that  eats  another  feels  less  pleasure  in  eating  it,  than 
the  latter  experiences  discomfort  in  being  eaten.  *' 


84  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

In  vain  do  we  seek  Happiness.  It  is  not  to  be 
found,  for  the  human  race  has  never  discovered  it. 

XIII.  The  life  of  Timon  is  re-enacted  in  that 
of  all  the  scorners  of  mankind  who  have  succeeded 
the  disenchanted  Athenian. 

In  short,  it  is  only  the  pessimist  philosophers 
who,  slaves  of  their  own  doctrine,  seek  to  make  us 
believe  that  the  world  is  modelled  upon  their 
dogmas. 

Leopardi  is  the  most  irascible  of  the  poets  of 
nothingness.  ''Every  living  being,  to  whatever 
age  he  may  belong, '  in  whatever  world  or  on  what 
planet  he  may  have  seen  the  light,  is  fatally  de- 
voted to  irremediable  misfortune." — "Happiness, 
whatever  it  may  be,  is  impossible  to  attain.  "^ 

He  does  not  confine  himself  to  ranting  about 
the  wretchedness  of  men.  According  to  him,  all 
nature  is  a  prey  to  the  most  excruciating  suffer- 
ings. Go  into  a  garden,  even  in  the  pleasant  est 
season  of  the  year,  and  you  will  find  everywhere 
traces  of  pain.  Yonder  rose  is  injured  by  the  sun 
that  gave  it  life;  it  is  drooping,  withered.  Farther 
on,  see  that  lily  at  whose  most  vital  parts  a  bee  is 
cruelly  sucking.  This  tree  is  infested  with  ants; 
that  one  with  caterpillars,  snails,  flies,  mosquitoes. 

^  Dialogue  of  the  Earth  and  the  Moon. 
'  Dialogue  of  Plotin  and  Porphyry. 


optimism  and  Pessimism  85 

There  is  not  a  lawn  in  perfect  condition.  And 
meanwhile  you  are  crushing  the  grass  in  walking. 

Then  Leopardi,  deformed  and  suffering,  has 
reasons  for  smiling  at  life.  His  philosophy  bright- 
ens. The  poet  who  saw  around  him  nothing  but 
hospitals  and  cemeteries,  begins  to  enjoy  existence. 
He  even  believes  in  the  perfectibility  of  man,  and 
judges  his  dissolvent  ideas  severely.  "I  praise," 
he  tells  us,  "and  I  glorify  those  doctrines,  however 
false  they  may  be,  which  produce  noble,  strong, 
generous,  and  virtuous  deeds  and  thoughts,  useful 
for  public  and  private  welfare. " 

Well  done!  That  is  language  worthy  of  a 
friend  of  man,  concerned  for  his  future  and  the 
normal  development  of  his  interests. 

The  same  thing  happens  to  our  conceptions  of 
life  that  happens  while  we  are  looking  at  Nature. 
We  see  her  sometimes  too  far  away,  sometimes  too 
close  at  hand.  We  see  her,  above  all,  with  the 
eyes  of  the  moment.  The  angle  from  which  we 
look  at  things,  creates  the  appearance  of  the  things. 
While  some  grieve  over  the  spectacle  of  a  cruel 
and  unmoved  Nature,  others  behold  with  delight 
the  great  Whole  of  which  they  form  a  part.  Some 
tremble  before  the  terrors  of  the  night,  others 
enjoy  her  awe-inspiring  beauty.  The  sun  blesses 
and  gladdens ;  infinity  sometim.es  alarms  and  som.e- 


86  TTHe  Science  of  Happiness 

times  consoles.  Yet  Nature,  the  night,  infinitude, 
always  remain  the  same.  It  is  we  who  see  them 
differently. 

XIV.  Chateaubriand  sowed  along  his  entire 
career,  with  unequalled  zeal,  sadness  and  disen- 
chantment. Was  he  at  least  sincere?  It  is 
enough  to  remember  with  what  childish  vanity 
he  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures  of  life,  his  distinctions, 
his  titles,  his  fame  as  a  writer,  and  his  conquests 
as  a  selfish  and  incorrigible  lover. 

Moreover,  he  expressed  his  weariness  in  words 
so  carefully  chosen  that  we  begin  to  doubt  the 
reality  of  his  sufferings. 

A  day  came  when  his  own  confessions  opened  to 
us  a  large  window  upon  the  mystery  of  his 
soul. 

In  the  work  may  be  read  this  disturbing  phrase' : 
"It  was  in  the  wood  of  Combourg  that  I  began  to 
feel  the  first  attack  of  that  weariness  which  I  have 
dragged  with  me  all  my  life,  the  melancholy  which 
has  constituted  my  torment  and  my  felicity.'' 
And  suddenly,  delivered  from  the  magic  of  his 
style,  we  have  perceived  a  man  intoxicated  by  his 
own  greatness;  under  the  cover  of  sadness,  a 
feeling  of  pride  in  being  distinguished  from  the 
world  of  mortals. 

'  Memoires  d'outre-tombe. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  87 

Rene's  melancholy  was,  after  all,  only  a  pleasure 
of  self-love,  a  delight  of  rare  essence,  a  special 
felicity  of  a  genius  in  love  with  his  rarity  and 
seeking  to  impose  it  upon  the  admiration  of  his 
fellowmen. 

Nevertheless,  this  spurious  sadness  has  cast  a 
veil  of  profound  melancholy  over  the  world  and 
caused  more  tears  to  be  shed  than  the  most  formid- 
able wars. 

The  cult  of  sadness,  in  the  main,  is  only  a  fad. 
Its  great  injury  is  in  lasting  too  long  a  time.  It 
somewhat  resembles  the  mania  of  death,  which 
settles  from  time  to  time  upon  disconsolate  man- 
kind. The  fourteenth  century  was  pre-eminently 
one  in  which  death  reigned  as  sovereign  mistress. 
''Morte  nihil  melius'^  ("There  is  nothing  better  than 
death"),  said  men,  fascinated  by  its  strange  grim- 
aces. Entwined  in  one  enormous  saraband, 
Germans,  Swiss,  Dutchmen,  and  Frenchmen 
began  in  1374  the  fantastic  dance  of  death.  Its 
victims,  whose  number  constantly  increased,  only 
sharpened  the  taste  for  death  by  rendering  it  more 
desirable  and  more  enviable.  It  filled  religious 
books  and  church  windows  with  its  images; 
insinuated  itself  into  the  carvings  of  the  furniture 
and  the  drinking-cups ;  took  its  place  triumphantly 
at  the  doors  of  houses  and  of  churches,  and  en- 


88  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

ttironed  the  hideous  skeleton  and  the  empty  skull 
in  poetry  and  the  arts. 

But  the  shout  of  triumph  of  the  Renaissance 
echoed  through  the  world.  The  worship  of  death, 
pursued  by  the  divine  works  which  reality  drew 
from  the  most  illustrious  hum.an  beings,  vanished 
and  disappeared.  The  happy  heart  will  also 
som.e  day  reap  its  revenge  upon  the  boundless  sad- 
ness and  pessimism  that  never  cease  to  corrode  it. 
This  new  Renaissance,  so  much  to  be  desired,  will 
bestow  a  renewal  of  genius,  and  the  triumph  of 
human  happiness. 

Everything  cries  out  to  man  that  the  calum- 
niators of  his  happiness  are  wrong.  This  inward 
voice  is  stronger  than  the  real  deceptions  of  the 
unfortunate  or  the  claptrap  of  the  flatterers  of 
nothingness.  Nourished  by  thoughts  of  desola- 
tion, we  still  turn  to  hope,  as  plants  turn  toward 
the  beneficent  light. 

Optimism  penetrates  our  life  as  the  hope  of 
success  and  happiness  influences  our  actions. 
Deprive  man  of  it,  and  his  development  will  be 
stunted  and  paralysed,  if  not  destroyed. 

The  crowding  and  the  formidable  competition 
from  which  the  liberal  professions  suffer,  deprive 
the  newcomers  of  the  smallest  chances  of  success. 
All  the  civilised  countries  are  in  the  same  predica- 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  89 

ment.  Physicians,  lawyers,  and  engineers  com- 
plain that  they  earn  less  than  v.'orkmen.  Yet 
everywhere  there  is  the  same  throng  of  candidates 
for  privations  and  ill-success.  No,  they  come 
full  of  the  hope  of  grasping  the  marshal's  baton 
and  enjoying  the  favours  of  the  mysterious  fairy 
who,  from  time  to  time,  covers  with  her  patronage 
some  Prince  Charming  of  the  bar,  of  engineering, 
or  of  medicine. 

Games  of  chance  work  greater  and  greater 
havoc.  Races  and  speculations  on  the  Stock 
Exchange  engulf  salaries,  the  savings  and  the 
wages  of  workm.en,  of  people  living  on  their  in- 
comes, of  the  rich  and  of  the  poor.  The  clubs 
where  members  and  visitors  are  plundered  with  the 
same  diligence  are  packed.  Lottery  tickets  win 
prizes,  and  the  governments  themselves  resort 
to  them  to  restore  the  balance  of  their  funds.  The 
hope  of  winning  the  great  and  even  the  little  prize 
is  as  old  as  man,  as  his  solid  and  lasting  optimism, 
in  spite  of  all  the  assaults  of  the  ages. 

There  is  something  pathetic  in  this  faith  in  good 
fortune  which  animates  the  thousands  of  buyers 
of  lottery  tickets.  The  chance  of  winning  is 
often  less  than  that  the  earth  will  be  plunged  in 
the  eternal  abyss.  And  while  the  pessimistic 
hypothesis  of  perishing  with  the  earth  alarms  only 


90  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

a  few  sincere  souls,  the  less  probable  chance  of 
winning  a  prize  in  the  Turkish  or  Congo  Belgian 
lotteries  induces  multitudes  to  sacrifice  the  money 
which,  to  many  people,  is  as  dear  as  their  own 
"ego.'» 

XV.  Who  are  the  poets,  the  novelists,  the 
philosophers  that  are  free  from  the  pessimist 
poison?  Their  number  is  small.  By  the  side  of 
Plato,  and  to  a  certain  extent  Aristotle,  Giordano 
Bruno,  Spinoza,  Leibnitz,  perhaps  we  might  find 
half  a  score  of  philosophers,  poets,  or  writers  who 
always  speak  of  life  with  a  just  comprehension, 
therefore  almost  with  love. 

So  we  do  not  cease  to  be  tossed  to  and  fro  with- 
out advancing.  Our  masters  hurry  us  toward  the 
abyss.  Yet  we  do  not  fall  into  it.  Our  souls, 
reared  in  contempt  for  life,  ought  to  find  delight 
in  annihilation.  We  ought  to  curse  the  light  and 
the  heat  of  the  sun.  Nevertheless  we  bless  them. 
Thus  the  attractions  of  life  show  themselves 
stronger  than  the  calumnies  they  have  been  made 
to  endure  since  the  childhood  of  our  minds.  The 
ineradicable  aspiration  toward  happiness  laughs 
at  all  the  combined  efforts  to  strangle  it.  It 
lives  within  us,  and  we  do  not  cease  to  live  for  its 
sake. 

The  pessimist  writers  form  the  most  amusing 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  91 

species.  Why  do  they  write?  Is  it  for  the  human 
race  which  they  detest?  Is  it  for  the  fame  which 
they  seem,  or  rather  which  they  ought,  to  despise? 
What  is  famic?  It  is  Hfe  in  the  imagination  of  our 
near  or  distant  fellow-creatures,  whom,  moreover, 
we  consider,  almost  always,  as  inferior  to  our- 
selves. But  if  we  despise  the  reality  of  our  own 
existence,  how  can  we  consistently  love  the  imagi- 
nary one  that  is  created  by  the  caprices  of  chance  ? 
The  renown  of  writers  is  probably  of  no  more  value 
than  that  of  dead  sovereigns.  Their  life  in  history 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  one  which  they 
have  really  lived.  Fame  flatters  and  conceals 
beings  who  are  often  wholly  unlike  their  labels. 
During  our  lifetime,  she  turns  a  deaf  ear  to  us; 
after  our  death  she  neglects  our  deeds  and  our 
thoughts.  She  uses  our  names  as  a  forged  mark. 
We  are  almost  always  famous  for  acts  which  we 
have  not  done  or  for  thoughts  which  are  mis- 
interpreted. Fame  most  frequently  resembles  a 
false  paternity. 

Those  who  love  life  can  console  themselves  for 
the  hardship  of  its  strange  prolongation  through 
fame.  But  what  is  to  justify  the  thirst  for  ce- 
lebrity among  the  eager  lovers  of  non-existence? 

XVI.  The  philosophers,  the  poets,  and  the 
moralists  of  "non-existence,"  when  they  attempt 


92  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

to  make  us  share  their  views  of  nature  and  of  nian» 
discover  that  they  are  flagrantly  out  of  harmony 
with  themselves.  It  is  understood  that  they  do 
not  write  for  the  benefit  of  human  beings.  The 
latter  interest  them  very  little.  They  are  working 
solely  for  fame.  But  fame  is  one  of  the  m.ost  futile 
things  in  life.  Their  existence  being  suspended 
from  one  of  the  most  fragile  branches  of- the  tree, 
they  give  cause  for  laughter  w^hen  we  see  them 
amusing  themselves  by  cutting  the  trunk  and 
destroying  the  roots. 

A  genuine  pessimist  is  logical  only  in  suicide. 
Despoiled  of  all  phraseology,  what  is  pessimism? 
A  theory,  according  to  which  "non-existence"  is 
of  greater  worth  than  existence.  Then  why 
labour,  why  maintain  the  breath  of  our  souls, 
why  grieve,  suffer,  weep,  and  lament,  why  delay 
the  deliverance  of  the  "non-existence"? 

Optimism  believes  the  contrary.  The  pleasures 
and  the  good  things  of  life  outweigh  -  the  ugly, 
mournful,  and  defective  ones.  Finding  life  toler- 
able, it  expects  to  render  it  still  better.  It  installs 
itself  on  earth  as  a  careful  cultivator  of  earth's 
blessings.  Its  belief  justifies  its  life,  and  also 
justifies  its  troubles,  its  disappointments,  its  joys. 

Pessimism  is  inconsistent  even  as  respects  its 
motives  for  dissatisfaction.     It  mourns  where  it 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  93 

ought  to  rejoice.  It  weeps  over  the  brief  duration 
of  life  and  bewails  the  possible  disappearance  of  the 
sun.  Logically  it  ought  to  rejoice  that  our  exist- 
ence is  not  too  long,  and  that  the  extinction  of  the 
sun  is  threatened. 

But  let  us  beware  of  accepting  too  literally  the 
fears  of  these  victims  of  spleen.  Life  is  always 
long  for  all  those  who  know  how  to  utilise  their 
existence.  Moreover,  we  can  live  to  be  two 
hundred  years  old.^  Speaking  physiologically, 
the  human  body  possesses  peerless  solidity.  Not 
one  of  the  m.achines  invented  by  man  could  resist 
for  a  single  year  the  incessant  taxes  which  we  im- 
pose upon  ours.  Yet  it  continues  to  perform  its 
functions  notwithstanding. 

As  for  the  sun,  it  is  far  from  extinction.  Accord- 
ing to  the  calculations  of  Helmholtz,  its  diameter 
will  diminish  only  one  fortieth  in  500,000  years! 
Millions  of  years  between  us  and  the  disappearance 
of  the  heat  which  is  indispensable  to  our  life  and  to 
our  plans !  By  that  time,  mankind  will  know  how 
to  accommodate  itself  to  a  new  existence.  Per- 
haps it  will  find  in  geothermy  a  means  of  trans- 
forming the  earth  into  a  hothouse  that  will  suit 
our  tastes  and  our  appetites. 

*  See  Philosophy  of  Longevity  (Library  of  Contemporary 
Philosophy,  F.  Alcan). 


94  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Still,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  this  grief  over 
what  may  happen  at  the  end  of  thousands  or 
thousands  of  millions  of  years  is  infinitely  comical. 

XVII.  The  pessimist  has  too  sensitive  a  soul. 
Threatening  or  depressed,  he  is  always  out  of 
temper.  His  facility  of  lamenting  often  places 
him  in  embarrassing  situations.  Yet  he  continues 
to  shed  tears,  sometimes  a  few,  sometimes  in 
torrents.  According  to  him,  science  itself  is 
created  only  to  dupe  man.  Tottering  and  un- 
certain, it  gropes  its  way  and  makes  no  progress. 
A  few  scientific  laws  survive  from  the  labour  of 
so  many  ages.  The  pessimists  of  the  twentieth 
century  w^ould  even  be  pleasantly  surprised  if 
they  should  learn  that  these  few  laws  have  proved 
erroneous.  And  while  the  principal  beams  of 
the  building  are  creaking  all  along  the  Hne,  the 
building  itself  nevertheless  remains  sound.  The 
situation  must  be  understood.  The  pessimists 
always  seek  things  that  cannot  be  found.  Then 
they  grieve  because  they  have  discovered  nothing. 
Having  enclosed  nature  within  the  narrow  con- 
ceptions of  their  own  brains,  they  bewail  the 
spectacle  of  a  world  that  scorns  to  follow  them, 
and  from  the  fear  of  finding  their  brains  inade- 
quate, declare  it  to  be  evil. 

Yes,  the  half  dozen  principles  forming  the  sub- 


optimism  and  Pessimism  95 

stance  of  mathematical  physics  are  now  seriously 
compromised.  Whether  it  is  the  principle  of 
Newton  or  of  Lavoisier ' ;  the  principle  of  Carnot  ^ 
of  that  of  relativity;  the  principle  of  least  resist- 
ance, or  that  of  the  conservation  of  energy;  all 
these  primordial  strata  of  modern  science  are 
trembling  upon  their  foundations.  The  sensation 
made  by  radium  still  echoes  in  our  ears.  We  were 
so  convinced  of  the  infallibility  of  the  principle 
of  the  conservation  of  energy  that  the  discov- 
ery of  Becquerel  and  of  Curie  at  first  found  us 
incredulous. 

This  radium,  which  releases  itself,  is  escaping 
energy.  It  does  not  cease  escaping,  in  spite  of  and 
contrary  to  the  sacred  law  which  commands  energy 
not  to  scatter.  We  had  the  consolation  of  believ- 
ing that  it  disappears  in  infinitesimal  and  intangi- 
ble proportions.  Ramsay  has  proved  the  contrary. 
What  is  to  be  concluded?  That  Mayer's  principle 
is  false?  That  science  has  made  an  error?  By 
no  means.  An  explanation  was  immediately  found. 
Radiations  of  an  unknown  nature  fill  space.  Ra- 
dium had  the  rare  privilege  of  first  collecting  and 
then  radiating  them.  After  all,  this  is  a  plausible 
hypothesis.     It  answers  every  objection.     It  can- 

'  Principle  of  the  conservation  of  the  mass. 
•  J  he  degradation  of  energy. 


g6  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

not  be  verified,  and  for  that  very  reason,  M.  H. 
Poincare  good-naturedly  asserts,  is  irrefutable. 
For  the  great  scientists  are  the  last  men' to  be  dis- 
turbed by  the  chances  which  befall  their  beloved 
science.  They  abandoned  long  ago  the  scholastic 
conception  of  the  laws  of  nature.  These  laws  no 
longer  represent  eternal  and  changeless  harmonies. 
They  express  the  steadfast  relations  which  unite 
the  two  phenomena:  that  of  the  present  and  that 
of  the  future.  The  goal  of  science,  of  its  laws  and 
of  its  principles,  is  to  foresee.  But  when  these  pre- 
visions prove  baseless,  she  easily  consoles  herself; 
for  neither  she  nor  her  laws  claim  to  be  infallible. 
What  are  the  geometrical  laws  whose  essence 
seems  eternal?  Laws  of  agreement.  The  me- 
chanical principles,  those  fundamental  bases  of 
our  philosophy  of  nature,  possess  no  more  value 
than  the  geometrical  postulates.  Probability 
forms  a  portion  of  all  the  physical  sciences,  as 
agreement  forms  the  basis  of  the  mathematical 
laws. 

XVIII.  It  requires  a  special  mentality  to  give 
ourselves  up  to  recriminations  or  fits  of  despair 
because  Nature  refuses  to  bend  to  our  laws,  the 
laws  in  which  we  desire  to  chain  her.  When  ex- 
perience deals  a  blow  to  one  of  the  laws  thus 
conceived,  we  modify,  complete,  or  abandon  the 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  97 

law  in  question.  And,  while  doing  so,  we  do  not 
forget  that  the  law,  thus  reshaped,  is  nourished 
by  the  substance  of  the  science  of  the  past,  as  the 
future  one  will  be  nourished  by  the  science  of  the 
present.  Science  endures,  like  the  famous  session 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  did  not  cease 
for  an  instant  after  the  anarchist  outrage.  Science 
continues  and  develops.  In  this  incessant  march 
toward  truth,  which  she  ever  approaches  more 
closely,  but  which,  perhaps,  she  will  never  succeed 
in  possessing  entirely,  she  collects  her  powers.  The 
human  race  also  draws  from  it  confidence  in  her. 
This  conflict  is  beautiful,  fertile,  and  profitable. 
Yet,  while  the  combatants  and  the  spectators 
rejoice  and  profit  by  this  magnificent  spectacle, 
the  pessimists  continue  morose  and  sad.  Let 
us  grieve  for  the  pessimists. ' 

XIX.  The  progress  of  science,  like  industrial 
progress,  leaves  behind  it  numerous  ruins.  But 
on  these  ruins  grows  a  sumptuous  plant,    which 


^  Paul  Bourget,  in  his  Essais  de  Psychologie,  even  anticipates 
the  fatal  moment  when  "in  the  presence  of  the  final  bankruptcy 
of  scientific  knowledge,  many  souls  will  fall  into  a  state  of  despair 
akin  to  that  which  would  have  seized  Pascal,  if  he  had  been  de- 
prived of  faith.  Tragical  rebellions  whose  equal  no  age  has  ever 
known,  will  then  burst  forth." 

Bourget  proclaimed  the  failure  of  science  before  F.  Brunetiere, 
but  both  had  numerous  predecessors,  and  doubtless  will  not  lack 
saddened  and  disabled  followers. 


98  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

covers  the  whole  dreary  surface  with  its  young 
and  beautiful  clusters  of  flowers.  Looking  at  it, 
we  begin  to  hope  and  instinctively  smile'  at  this 
more  and  more  animated  expression  of  the  unity 
of  nature,  of  the  unity  of  her  principles,  replacing 
the  infinite  confusion  of  laws  and  of  buried 
sciences. 

For  heat,  the  vibrating  solar  messenger,  as 
the  great  poet-philosopher  Sully- Prudhomme  has 
sung,  is  an  eternal  source  "of  joy,  of  beauty,  of 
energy,  and  of  novelty."^ 

In  proportion  as  we  embrace  more  things,  we 


*  Sully-Prudhomme  is  considered  pre-eminently  the  optimist- 
poet,  the  poet  of  life.  Yes,  he  has  sought  to  sing  Happiness,  and 
has  created  a  poem  magnificent  in  conception  and  inspiration. 
But  his  Happiness  is,  in  essence,  deceptive.  Faustin  and  Stella 
enjoy  a  divine  felicity,  but  very  distant  from  us,  in  Paradise. 
Yet  the  plaints  of  earth  do  not  cease  to  ascend  to  them,  and  they 
seek  in  vain  for  justice.  When  death  restores  the  two  lovers  to 
that  hell  which  Faustin  still  loves  "for  its  fragile  flowers,"  man 
has  vanished  from  the  world.  The  plants  and  animals  have 
reconquered  it;    man  is  there  no  longer. 

My  famous  friend,  some  time  before  his  death,  spoke  to  me  with 
pathetic  emotion  of  his  Happiness,  which  he  believed  to  be  secure 
from  pessimistic  thought.  But  how  would  he  have  sung  the  Woe 
of  Earth,  if  Happiness,  to  develop  or  to  triumph,  had  been  obliged 
to  depart? 

The  poet's  case  is  significant.  He  desired  to  glorify  life,  and  he 
has  made  an  apology  for  death.  He  is  like  a  consumptive  who 
believes  he  is  smiling  on  life  through  his  mysterious  and  invincible 
malady.  Imbued  with  the  pessimist  disease,  we  draw  poison 
from  it,  even  when  we  intend  to  disseminate  about  us  the  joy  of 
living. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  99 

refer    them    to    one    source.     Light,    electricity, 
magnetism,  are  to  us  the  manifestation  of  a  single 
power.     Yet,  in  the  past,  bodies  were  divided  into 
gaseous,  liquid,  or  soHd.     We  no  longer  think  of 
this  separation.     The  experiments  of  Andrew  del 
Wals  and  so  many  others  have  demonstrated  the 
continuity  existing  between  these  three  conditions. 
The  sciences  intersect  one  another.     Under   the 
system  of  reciprocal   penetration,   they   are   ex- 
tending  their  frontiers.       Sociology  is  becoming 
biological,  as   biology  is  becoming  physiological, 
physiology    embryogenic,    or    embryogeny    ana- 
tomical. 

On  the  road  of  unity  all  the  sciences  meet,  as  do 
also  all  the  principles  which  have  been  abandoned, 
denied,  buried. 

XX.  A  scientific  law  is  found  to  have  been 
incorrect!  Ten,  one  hundred  laws  are  erroneous! 
A  good  thing!  The  balance,  if  any  remains,  is 
turned  into  the  common  hoard.  For  the  disap- 
pearance of  discrowned  laws  is  only  the  triumph  of 
a  single  law,  one  that  is  general  and  divine:  the 
unity  of  nature  Can  we  grieve  because  theoreti- 
cally we  are  moving  toward  the  identity  of  forces 
or  the  sole  force  that  is  ruling  and  filHng  life? 

Finally,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the   admirable 
applications  of  science?     Science  has  transformed, 


100  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

and  continues  to  transform,  the  world.  Let  us 
hope  that  it  will  understand  how  to  render  happier 
earth's  principal  tenant,  man. 

The  success  of  pessimism  with  the  reader  proves 
the  immeasurable  power  of  flattery.  It  also  de- 
monstrates the  exaggerated  importance  that  man 
attributes  to  himself.  According  to  James  Sully, 
the  pessimist  presents  man  as  a  fettered  Prome- 
theus, enduring  tortures  from  the  hand  of  a  cruel 
Jupiter.  And  James  Sully  is  right.  This  picture 
touches  us.  Pessimism  slowly  gains  our  confidence 
and  our  sympathy.  The  brain,  flattered  by  the 
spectacle  of  the  heroic  tortures  that  have  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  mortals,  willingly  lends  its  ear  to  the 
intoxicating  melody  of  our  suffering  royalty.  The 
success  of  the  romantic  extravagances  is  explained 
by  the  same  reasons  as  that  of  the  pessimist 
poisons. 

XXI.  Would  the  world  then  be  perfect?  By 
no  means.  It  is  full  of  troubles.  But  for  the 
latter,  life  would  lose  its  greatest  charms.  The 
hope  in  and  the  labour  for  progress  are  the  fairest 
jewels  of  our  intellectual  and  moral  crown.  Ex- 
tinguish their  lustre,  and  our  fate  will  become  des- 
perately sad.  Without  pain  there  is  no  pleasure. 
Without  sorrow  there  is  no  happiness.  Without 
imperfections  there  would  be  no  perfect  things. 


optimism  and  Pessimism  loi 

One  would  need  to  possess  the  ingenuousness  of 
Rathsherr  Brockes  to  seek  to  prove  in  nine 
volumes  that  everything  in  the  world  is  for  the 
best.  The  German  philosopher  plunges  into 
raptures  over  the  divine  goodness,  for  has  he 
not  found  in  the  scientific  culinary  arrange- 
ment of  portions  of  the  goose,  the  best  proof 
that  nature  acts  solely  for  the  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  of  man?  No,  nothing  is  arranged 
with  a  view  to  our  happiness.  The  great  All 
does  not  heed  it.  Nevertheless,  life  is  beautiful 
and  good,  in  spite  of,  or,  if  you  prefer,  on  account 
of,  the  exertions  in  the  struggle  which  she  imposes 
upon  us. 

An  accurate  view  of  life  is  indispensable.  I 
will  add  that  dissatisfaction  is  the  essential 
condition  of  progress.  But  between  a  methodical 
criticism  and  the  pessimistic  doctrine,  there  is  the 
difference  which  separates  the  man  joyously 
tilling  his  land  from  the  one  who  disparages  in 
advance  the  future  harvest.  His  discouragement 
paralyses  his  own  efforts  and  enfeebles  those  of 
others.  The  limits  of  rational  criticism  are  easily 
recognised.  If  these  are  passed,  the  result  is  a 
scorn  of  exertion,  weakness  of  will,  a  settled 
coquetry  with  "non-existence." 

This  kind  of  sport,  dangerous  to  individuals. 


102  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

becomes  disastrous  to  numbers.  It  sows  despair, 
and  reaps  death. 

XXII.  Yet  pessimism  deserves  some  clemency. 
It  must  be  expelled  with  caresses,  as  we  drive 
away  the  nightmares  of  children  For  pessimism, 
in  its  essence,  is  juvenile.  We  usually  fall  into  its 
nets  before  the  maturity  of  the  mind.  Before 
scaling  the  mountain  we  see  only  the  rocks  that 
bar  the  way.  Before  grasping  the  serene  aspect  of 
life,  we  perceive  only  the  little  dark  corners.  Age 
and  experience  almost  always  tear  away  the  black 
bandage  which  pessimism  places  before  our  eyes. 
*'To  be  pessimistic  in  feeling,"  said  Goethe,  "we 
must  be  young. ' '  This  feeling  was  well-understood 
by  Goethe,  who  in  1788  wrote'  that  he  was  not 
made  for  this  world.  Forty- two  years  later,  he 
penned  the  touching  confession  (letter  to  Zelter), 
"I  am  happy. "  He  even  wished,  at  this  time,  to 
live  his  life  over  again.  Leopardi,  Schopenhauer, 
and  their  fellows,  converted  somewhat  late,  fully 
agree  with  Goethe's  opinion 

Many  writers  have  died  pessimists  from  not 
having  reached  the  age  of  optimism.  This  should 
comfort  the  Werthers.  The  mere  question  of 
years  often  plays  no  part  in  it,  but  the  wise  ex- 
perience of  life  counts  largely. 

^  Cahiers  de  Jeunesse. 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  103 

We  must,  in  all  cases,  distinguish  between  ex- 
treme pessimism  and  the  melancholy,  the  sadness, 
or  the  solemnity  of  thought.  The  latter  only 
colour  thought  with  soft  tints,  but  pessimism 
changes  its  nature.  Just  as  physical  happiness 
is  a  blending  of  pleasures  and  pains,  scientific  and 
philosophical  serenity  is  composed  of  bitterness, 
discouragement,  hope,  and  triumphs. 

Without  desiring  to  maintain  with  Priestley  that 
the  existence  of  the  world  will  some  day  become 
akin  to  Paradise,  we  yet  have  the  right  to  discount 
its  future  joyously.  With  the  triumph  of  the 
theory  of  evolution,  the  boundaries  of  our  perfecti- 
bility recede  endlessly.  Our  existence  promises 
to  be  longer  and  happier.  Sociology,  founded 
upon  the  exact  sciences,  makes  us  hope  for  a  reform 
of  the  world  in  harmony  with  our  boldest  dreams. 

XXIII.  Modern  science  has  singularly  humili- 
ated the  pride  of  the  pessimists.  Their  theory, 
she  tells  us,  proceeds  chiefly  from  their  physiologi- 
cal inferiority.  The  ease  or  the  difficulty  of  feel- 
ing pleasure,  biology  teaches,  stands  in  direct 
relation  to  our  organic  functions.  Normal  life  is 
easily  imbued  with  agreeable  sensations.  Un- 
healthy organs,  on  the  other  hand,  are  refrac- 
tory. Whoever  possesses  health,  enjoys  its 
delights  and  its  perfumes.      Those   who   are   ill 


104  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

gather  from  the  flora  of  life  only  faded  flowers 
and  dead  leaves. 

The  curious  experiments  of  Dr.  Charles  Fere 
prove  that  individuals  who  are  well  "present  a 
potential  maximum  tension." 

Behind  this  technical  law  is  concealed  a  whole 
world  of  facts  and  ideas.  A  well-balanced  man 
is  overflowing  with  life.  He  even  adds  from  his 
own  substance  to  the  sensations  received  from 
without,  and  feels  them  in  excess  of  their  real 
importance.  Degenerates,  on  the  other  hand, 
always  feel  less  than  the  phenomena  should  call 
forth.  Their  powerlessness  prevents  them  from 
placing  themselves  on  the  level  of  the  external 
world.  Ailing,  they  call  the  world  to  account 
because  it  does  not  harmonise  with  the  lowering 
of  their  vitality. 

Among  the  abnormal  individuals  of  all  sorts 
from  whom  the  professional  pessimists  are  habitu- 
ally recruited,  and  the  world,  there  is-  the  same 
interchange  of  views  as  between  a  fool  and  a 
man  of  intellect.  The  latter  vainly  repeats  his 
thoughts.  The  fool  can  neither  understand  him 
nor  enjoy  the  charms  of  his  conversation.  He  will 
even  invariably  interpret  him  at  cross  purposes. 

The  incorrect  comprehension,  or  the  mistaken 
interpretation  of  the  sensations  of  pleasure,   as 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  105 

well  as  the  incapacity  for  feeling  it  intensely,  un- 
doubtedly bears  a  large  part  in  the  extravagant 
pessimism  of  those  who  are  disappointed  in  life. 
From  the  days  of  Buddha  or  Cakya-Mouni, 
passing  through  himdreds  of  schools,  sects,  or  doc- 
trines to  end  with  Schopenhauer  or  Hartmann,  it 
is  always  pleasure  opposed  to  pain  that  constantly 
furnishes  the  arguments  necessary  to  demonetise 
life.  Hegesias  of  Cyrene  was  perhaps  the  most 
sincere  of  all  the  detractors  of  human  existence. 
He  started  with  the  supreme  worship  of  pleasures 
and,  by  discovering  their  rarity,  he  openly  upheld 
the  benefits  of  suicide.  His  master,  Aristippus, 
as  well  as  all  the  hedonists,  appeared  to  forget 
that  behind  pleasure  there  is  deceit,  and  behind 
voluptuousness,  disenchantment.  The  history  of 
this  school  incarnates  the  misfortunes  of  human 
happiness,  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  found  it 
upon  pleasures  and  enjoyments.  And  while  cer- 
tain disciples  of  Aristippus,  like  Theodore,  sought 
Happiness  even  in  robbery  and  sacrilege,  and  were 
completely  disappointed,  Hegesias,  having  proved 
that  the  number  of  delights  is  less  than  the  sources 
of  pain,  openly  preached  suicide.  The  prosperity 
of  his  fraternity  of  the  dying  compelled  Ptolemy 
to  close  his  school.  Yet  it  decided  nothing. 
The  same  result  occurred  in  the  case  of  all  the 


io6  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

disciples  of  Aristippus,  conscious  or  unconscious, 
who  have  succeeded  one  another  in  the  philosophy 
and  in  the  history  of  all  the  nations. 

Pleasure  conceived  as  a  simple  enjoyment  of 
life,  can  only  cause  fatal  disappointments.  The 
axis  must  be  changed.  Instead  of  basing  pleasure 
exclusively  upon  the  physiology  of  the  senses,  it 
must  be  associated  chiefly  with  spiritual  needs. 
The  solidarity  of  human  beings  elevated  to  altru- 
ism; our  moral  perfection  having  become  the 
purpose  of  existence;  the  broadening  of  our  exis- 
tence, seeking  to  embrace  all  that  deserves  to  be 
admired  and  loved, — what  a  vast  and  infinite 
field  for  pleasure,  constantly  renewed  and  never 
exhausted!  Add  to  this  the  moral  health  of  the 
soul  and  the  physical  health  of  the  body.  The 
scale  of  pleasures,  thus  enlarged,  can  respond  to  the 
widest  and  most  refined  demands  on  happiness. 

Whether  it  be  a  Hobbes  with  his  principle  of 
sensations  as  a  criterion  of  happiness,  a  La  Mettrie 
or  a  Buchner,  reducing  man  to  a  simple  mechani- 
cal expression,  all  offer  behind  their  pleasures 
only  the  bitternesses  which  render  existence 
odious. 

But  change  the  essence  of  pleasure.  In  pro- 
portion as  this  basis  is  elevated,  the  happiness 
which   it   is    supposed    to   nourish   and   support 


Optimism  and  Pessimism  107 

broadens  and  manifests  itself  as  more  beautiful 
and  more  enduring. 

It  is  enough  to  compare  the  disillusion  of  Cyreni- 
anism,  under  all  its  forms,  with  the  serenity  of  a 
Bentham  or  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  to  understand 
how  far  the  idea  of  pleasure  itself,  more  and  more 
purified  and  ennobled,  might  be  reconciled  with  a 
happiness  that  would  be  stable  and  permanent 
for  aU. 

The  chief  necessity  is  to  make  a  breach  between 
pleasure  and  luxiuy,  its  logical  abuttal.  For 
sadness,  lassitude,  and  suffering  are  the  three 
Fates  who  conceal  themselves  behind  all  voluptu- 
ousness. They  deprive  it  of  continuance  and  of 
the  possibility  of  being  completely  satisfied.  By 
covering  with  thick  ashes  a  pleasure  that  has  been 
experienced,  the  Fates  do  not  even  permit  it  to  be 
prolonged  by  memory.  Each  pleasure  thus  bears 
within  itself  disappointment,  discouragement,  and 
death.  We  can  adapt  ourselves  to  their  existence 
only  by  modifying  their  substance.  Salt,  a  bene- 
ficial condiment,  would  kill  us  if  it  should  become 
the  sole  aliment  of  the  organism.  It  is  the  same 
with  pleasure  and  voluptuousness,  which  disturb 
both  our  souls  and  our  bodies. 

XXIV.  Here  is  a  pretty  experiment  that  is 
easily  performed.     The  suggestion  is  made  to  a 


io8  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

hypnotised  woman  that  she  cannot  take  a  glass  of 
champagne  which  is  within  her  reach.  She 
hesitates  and  feels  embarrassed.  By  repeated 
movements  she  shows  her  intention  of  grasping 
the  object  of  her  desire.  Then,  finding  it  impossi- 
ble to  accomplish  her  wish,  she  heaps  insults  upon 
the  champagne,  declaring  it  to  be  dirty,  poison- 
ous, and  obsolete.  The  wine  inveighed  against 
represents  the  world.  Pessimism  resembles  this 
woman,  who  has  lost  the  idea  of  the  value  and  the 
advantages  of  the  object  that  denies  itself  to  her 
will  and  her  comprehension. 


IV 

AMONG  THE  UNFORTUNATE 

A — In  the  Kingdom  of  Envy 

I.  The  ingenuity  of  man  is  chiefly  manifest 
when  he  confronts  his  distress.  We  see  then  what 
exceptional  gifts  our  brains  have  scattered  to 
increase  and  complicate  sorrow.  Like  the  divine 
Creator,  man  has  formed  a  world  out  of  nothing. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  Envy  was  born. 

What  is  Envy?  Those  who  occasion  it,  as  well 
as  those  who  are  its  victims,  are  alike  to  be  pitied. 
The  himian  race,  usually  so  disunited,  seems  on 
this  point  to  be  one  and  indivisible.  In  all  latitudes 
we  observe  the  same  phenomenon:  each  member 
of  mankind  would  believe  himself  dishonoured  if  he 
did  not  provoke  around  him  the  bitterness  of  envy. 

The  savages  who  perforate  their  noses  in  order 
to  put  ornaments  in  them,  the  Indians  of  the  Ori- 
noco who,  according  to  Humboldt,  work  for  a 
fortnight  to  buy  paint,  the  object  of  admiration 

of  all  their  associates,  the  Africans  in  the  escort 

109 


no         TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

of  Captain  Speke  who  paraded  in  their  goatskin 
cloaks  in  fine  weather  and  hid  them,  though  shiver- 
ing with  cold,  when  the  dampness  and  the  water 
fell  on  their  nude  bodies,  are  so  many  prototypes 
of  that  passion  for  sowing  envy  which  preys  upon 
the  noblest  and  the  most  degraded  specimens  of 
men  and  women. 

Our  whole  modern  education  is  infected  with 
the  desire  to  appear,  and  not  to  be.  Children  are 
made  to  waste  years  of  their  lives  in  learning  music, 
which  they  give  up  when  they  reach  maturity, 
just  as  they  are  dressed  like  monkeys  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  passers-by.  These  principles, 
inculcated  in  childhood,  pursue  us  throughout  our 
lives.  Herbert  Spencer  says  that  men  who  would 
blush  if  they  were  taxed  with  ignorance  concern- 
ing the  fabulous  labours  of  a  demi-god,  would  not 
show  the  slightest  shame  in  confessing  that  they 
do  not  know  the  location  of  the  Eustachian  tubes, 
the  functions  of  the  spinal  marrow,  or  the  normal 
number  of  pulsations. 

To  display  ourselves  and  to  arouse  envy! 
This  desire  haunts  us  from  childhood,  when  it  is 
inculcated.  Later  it  increases  and  accompanies 
us  to  and  even  after  death,  under  the  form  of 
mausoleums  and  tombs,  intended  to  make  those 
who  survive  us  exclaim  enviously. 


-Among  tHe  Unfortunate  iii 

Leaders  of  nations  or  plain  street-sweepers, 
politicians  or  philosophers,  scholars  or  poets, 
financiers  or  aristocrats,  great  artists  or  ordinary- 
strolling  players,  great  ladies  or  little  seamstresses, 
women  of  serious  or  of  light  manners,  all  think 
solely  of  displaying  insolently  or  discreetly  their 
claims  to  envy. 

The  author  who  relates  the  fabulous  issues  of  his 
books;  the  lady  of  the  great  or  the  demi-world 
who  boasts  of  her  success  with  men ;  the  politician 
who  dazzles  our  eyes  with  his  influence,  or  the 
financier  with  his  millions;  the  physician  or  the 
lawyer  who  proclaims  the  amount  of  his  income, 
are  all  acting  under  the  domination  of  the  same 
motive  which  urges  a  snob  to  attract  attention 
in  the  front  boxes  or  in  a  magnificent  automobile. 

The  object  in  life  for  the  majority  of  men  and 
women  is  nothing  but  the  desire  to  create  along 
their  path  the  worst  of  the  moral  deformities  of 
man,  envy.  The  means  vary,  but  the  motive 
always  remains  hopelessly  the  same. 

II.  History  proves  that,  in  every  age,  envy 
has  been  the  most  detestable  factor  in  the  march 
of  human  affairs.  It  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  all 
the  great  social  and  political  revolutions.  It  has 
created  more  suffering  than  poverty. 

If  the  dominant  classes  had  been  able  to  resist 


112  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

the  deceptive  charms  of  envy,  the  progress  of  the 
world  would  have  turned  in  a  different  direction. 

Those  who  take  pleasure  in  creating  envy 
cannot  suspect  its  poisonous  character.  It  humili- 
ates, lowers,  and  sours  natures.  Once  implanted 
in  the  soul,  it  takes  possession  of  it  as  ill  weeds 
grow  in  uncultivated  soil,  and  stifles  in  its  passage 
the  development  of  the  good  seeds.  The  feelings 
of  justice,  of  benevolence,  of  sympathy,  perish  in 
their  contact  like  verdure  in  the  sweep  of  the  desert 
winds. 

Fatal  to  individual  happiness,  it  is  still  more  so 
to  that  of  the  community.  For  envy  produces 
hatred  which,  in  its  turn,  exasperates  and  paralyses 
the  will.  Moreover,  it  destroys  all  feeling  of  soli- 
darity. The  social  struggle  often  flows  from  the 
real  distress  of  the  poor,  but  it  is  almost  always 
based  upon  the  moral  blindness  of  the  rich. 

The  greater  portion  of  our  defects  spring  from 
envy,  which  leads  to  falsehood  in  life.  .  It  creates 
also  falsehood  of  words  and  of  thought.  The  wish 
to  inspire  envy  prevents  us  from  being  natural. 
At  its  approach,  kindness  departs.  Mutually 
attacked  by  its  multifarious  venoms,  men  act 
toward  one  another  like  poisonous  plants. 

III.  I  once  asked  a  famous  psychologist,  whose 
vocation  consists  in  writing  evil  books,  why  he 


-Amon^  tHe  Unfortunate  113 

boasted  of  his  fictitious  success,  when  the  real  was 
sufficient  for  his  glory. 

"The  potion  of  envy,  which  we  make  friends  and 
enemies  drink,"  he  repHed,  ''affords  us  delicious 
sensations." 

His  colleagues,  exasperated  by  his  bragging, 
have  succeeded,  however,  in  diminishing  his  success 
and  in  ridiculing  his  fame.  He  is  drinking  the 
potion  in  his  turn  and  he  curses  the  fatal  envy 
which,  after  having  prompted  him  to  pour  poi- 
sons for  others,  now  compels  him  to  swallow  them 
himself. 

IV.  Envy  is  a  feeling  of  base  essence.  The 
fleeting  satisfaction  that  it  bestows  recalls  the 
delicious  tingling  caused  by  certain  deleterious 
drinks.  It  begins  with  a  kiss  of  vanity  and  ends 
with  genuine  unhappiness.  It  is  dangerous  to 
excite  the  wild  beasts  encountered  along  our  way. 
It  is  still  more  dangerous  to  exasperate  the  wicked 
beast  that  slumbers  in  the  lower  depths  of  the 
human  mind. 

Those  who  are  corroded  by  envy  should  think 
of  those  who  are  beneath  them.  When  our  souls 
are  base  enough  or  weak  enough  to  suffer  from  the 
happiness — which  is  often  delusive — of  others, 
we  should  seek  consolation  in  thinking  of  the  ill- 
fortune  of  those,  often  far  more  numerous,  who  are 


114  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

our  inferiors.  Our  self-conceit  always  enables  us 
to  find  these  people. 

A  pure  and  noble  happiness  borrows  nothing 
from  envy,  quite  the  contrary.  When  encountered 
such  happiness  suffers  from  the  meeting  and  even 
tries  to  hold  aloof  and  never  to  cross  envy's 
pathway.  Delicate  souls  are  wounded  by  the 
vicinity  of  evil.  We  should  blush  to  provoke 
envy,  as  we  would  blush  to  diffuse  an  odour  that 
is  harmful  to  the  health  of  our  neighbours. 

Ordinary  souls  rejoice  at  seeing  envy  born  and 
grow  around  them.  The  unreflecting  provoke  it 
thoughtlessly.  Really  superior  natures,  through 
calculation  or  kindness,  strive  to  kill  it  in  the 
germ.  When,  against  their  will,  it  is  encountered, 
they  endeavour,  since  its  destruction  is  impossible, 
to  soften  its  effects. 

V.  The  desire  to  occasion  envy  is  a  morbid 
one,  a  sort  of  ever-restless,  never-satisfied  neurosis. 
Those  who  can  resist  it  are  very  rare.  It  appears 
under  every  form  and  affects  every  mind.  Like 
the  incorrigible  coquette,  who  ends  by  looking  in 
a  fetching  way  at  her  own  fingers,  the  vain 
person  seeks  to  arouse  envy  among  those  who 
are   dearest. 

The  ancient  Greeks  often  punished  impious 
wishes.     The  famous  Athenian  orator,  Demades, 


Aixiong  tHe  Unfort\inate  115 

had  a  man  who  sold  funeral  goods  sentenced 
because  his  trade  compelled  him  to  desire  the 
death  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

If  the  question  now  was  to  punish  all  whose 
business  consists  in  diffusing  hatred,  the  cities, 
suburbs,  and  country  would  be  depopulated. 

VI.  A  factory  was  in  operation  for  half  a 
century  and  had  enriched  two  generations.  The 
founder  and  his  son  lived  amid  their  workmen 
without  wounding  their  sensitive  feeHngs,  and 
concealed  their  luxury  by  indulging  in  it  at  a 
homestead  far  from  the  centre  of  their  business 
activity.  Their  heir,  forgetting  the  prudence  of 
his  predecessors,  built  a  magnificent  palace  beside 
the  factory.  The  envy  of  the  poor  workmen 
closely  followed  the  erection  of  the  splendid  struc- 
ture. When  the  castle  rose  in  the  midst  of  the 
little  houses,  the  evil  feelings  of  the  thousands  of 
labourers  filled  the  rich  man's  home.  Alarmed, 
he  then  strove  to  turn  aside  their  envy.  But  in 
vain.  While  comparing  their  life  of  poverty  with 
the  luxury  of  the  manor,  these  simple  souls  were 
filled  with  an  invincible  rage,  for  it  was  caused  by 
envy.  Twice  the  factory  was  set  on  fire.  Numer- 
ous strikes  at  last  destroyed  the  long  prosperity  of 
the  business.  One  day  the  factory  closed  its 
doors  and  the  castle,  deserted,  spread  desolation 


Ii6         THe  Science  of  Happiness 

around  its  walls,  on  which  might  have  been  en- 
graved in  black  letters:    Here  lies  Envy. 

VII.  When  we  consider  the  care  with  which  the 
Government  creates  and  maintains  envy,  we  might 
suppose  that  the  point  in  question  was  a  primordial 
virtue. 

The  titles  and  the  decorations  which  democratic 
governments  themselves  do  not  cease  to  multiply 
best  prove  how  hard  the  human  race  toils  to  in- 
crease its  troubles.  This  folly  of  the  State  is 
equalled  only  by  that  of  "good  society"  or  rich 
society,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 

The  latter  ceaselessly  complains  of  the  hostility 
which  comes  to  it  from  below  and  trembles  at  the 
threats  of  the  god  Demos.  Yet  it  works  solely 
to  excite  this  hostility.  From  fear  that  the  poor 
may  be  ignorant  of  the  stupid  use  of  the  money 
of  the  rich,  the  latter  proclaim  it  by  every  means 
at  their  disposal.  A  special  news  department 
undertakes  to  discuss  their  luxury.  The  smallest 
detail  of  their  foolish  or  criminal  egotism  is  re- 
peated in  millions  of  copies.  This  special  depart- 
ment has,  moreover,  become  universal.  All  the 
papers  have  their  society  column. 

Envy  thus  flows  in  a  brimming  stream.  Men 
and  women,  urged  by  the  unconquerable  desire 
of  creating  it,   mutually  hurl  into  each  other's 


i 


-A.inong  tine  Unfortxinate  117 

faces  their  relations,  their  country  houses,  their 
furniture,  their  horses,  their  automobiles,  their 
teas,  their  dinners,  their  suppers,  their  lovers, 
their  mistresses,  their  jewels.  Young  American 
women  have  displayed  to  reporters  lace  chemises, 
the  cost  of  a  single  one  of  which  would  exceed  the 
annual  income  of  a  working  family  of  three  persons. 

The  same  morbid  desire  for  publicity  has  crossed 
the  ocean.  The  spectacle  of  young  girls,  creatures 
of  graciousness  and  kindness,  exhibiting  their 
sumptuous  wedding  outfits,  to  poison  by  envy  the 
atmosphere  of  the  city,  no  longer  shocks  any  one. 

In  this  mad  chase  toward  the  multiplication  of 
envy,  we  forget  her  younger  sister,  hate,  but  the 
latter,  ever  growing  and  threatening,  closely 
follows  her  companion. 

VIII.  One  day,  at  a  social  reception,  I  had  the 
misfortune  of  scandalising  those  who  were  present. 

"A  naturalist, "  I  said  to  the  ladies  ghttering  in 
all  the  brilliancy  of  their  toilettes  and  their  spark- 
ling jewels,  "has  just  discovered  a  singular  species 
of  animal.  Both  males  and  females  have  only  a 
single  anxiety :  to  dazzle  their  neighbours.  They 
make  the  most  comical  grimaces  to  show  the 
superiority  of  their  skin  or  of  their  muzzles. 
Intoxicated  by  these  parade  effects,  some  of  them 
fall  upon  others,   deahng  numerous  blows  with 


Ii8  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

their  paws.  Wounded  and  bleeding,  they  repeat 
the  same  performance;  for  the  dominant  char- 
acteristic of  this  animal  is  its  endeavour  to  make 
itself  envied  by  its  associates,  even  at  the  cost 
of  the  great  sufferings  which  are  constantly  occa- 
sioned. So  they  spend  their  lives  in  gratifying 
their  vanity  and  suffering  for  it  afterward. " 

''  What  is  this  animal's  name? ' '  I  was  asked  in 
a  general  chorus. 

"The  society  woman." 

IX.  Old  Hesiod  has  already  described  the 
overflow  of  envy  among  his  countrymen. 

"The  potter  envies  the  potter,  the  artisan  the 
artisan,  the  poor  even  those  who  are  poor,  the 
musician  the  musician,  and  the  poet  the  poet." 

This  evil  is  of  such  long  standing  that  it  appears 
almost  innate.  Yet  let  us  not  err  concerning  its 
character.  It  is  an  acquired  evil.  The  child 
is  not  reached  by  its  malign  influence.  The 
child  is  simple  and  natural.  This  is  the  explana- 
tion of  the  unutterable  charm  which  certain  little 
folks  exert  upon  us.  After  having  breathed  the 
vicious  atmosphere  of  the  desire  to  appear,  we  are 
enraptured  by  the  sincere  manifestations  of  child- 
ish dispositions.  Their  charm,  as  well  as  the 
attraction  of  their  manners,  is  doubtless  attrib- 
utable to  their  naturalness.     Pedagogy,  the  State, 


A.mong  tKe  Unfortxinate  119 

Society,  do  their  best  to  uproot  these  natural 
virtues.  Few  are  those  who,  by  the  power  of  will, 
succeed  in  resisting  the  faulty  training.  Few  as 
they  may  be,  their  example  proves  the  possibility 
of  cure.     It  is  at  the  same  time  Httle  and  much. 

Pedagogy  some  day  will  doubtless  find  that  its 
duties  are  elsewhere.  Instead  of  sowing  envy, 
it  ought  to  extirpate  it  from  our  souls.  The  task 
will  not  be  easy.  It  will  be  necessary  for  pedagogy 
to  reform  its  ideal,  its  programmes,  its  principles 
of  emulation,  its  rewards.  But  the  teacher  who,  in 
days  to  come,  will  be  remunerated  like  an  English 
judge  and  respected  like  a  constitutional  king, 
will  be  able  to  dispense  with  envy.  He  will 
eliminate  from  education  the  evil  plant  of  which 
his  own  life  will  have  been  rid. 

Henceforth  let  us  endeavour  to  cure  ourselves. 
The  effort  required  is  trivial.  It  is  a  ticket 
in  a  lottery  whose  price  is  almost  nothing,  and  yet 
is  assured,  as  are  all  the  other  tickets,  of  drawing 
large  rewards. 

To  be  rid  of  envy  is  almost  the  equivalent  of 
being  certain  of  happiness. 

X.  Ausonius  was  one  of  the  happiest  of  men. 
Greatly  admired  by  his  contemporaries,  the  most 
popular  among  the  Gallo-Roman  authors,  he  at- 
tained  the  reaHsation  of   all  his  dreams.      Rich 


120  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

and  highly  esteemed,  he  profited  by  a  robust  old 
age,  which  he  enjoyed  a  long  time.  Elevated  to 
the  prefecture  of  the  Gauls  and  to  the  consulate, 
adulated  by  the  literary  men  of  the  period  and 
pampered  by  fate,  he  possessed  good  fortune  to  a 
degree  rare  among  human  beings:  he  was  con- 
scious of  his  happiness.  He  could  have  desired 
nothing  more.  We  are  never  rich  enough,  we  are 
never  famous  enough,  we  never  have  enough  tal- 
ent or  genius.  But  Ausonius  declared  himself 
fully  satisfied  with  his  destiny. 

It  is  while  reflecting  on  his  father's  life  that  the 
poet  has  succeeded  in  making  for  his  own  a 
philosophy  imbued  with  a  divine  comprehension 
of  existence. 

In  his  Ephemeris  he  utters  these  profound  words 
of  his  father:  "I  have  always  thought  that  happi- 
ness consisted  not  in  having  everything  that  we 
desire,  but  in  not  desiring  what  fate  has  not  be- 
stowed." Animated  by  this  thought,  Ausonius 
desired  only  the  things  within  his  reach.  And  all 
his  life  he  asked  of  God  only  the  "favour  of  having 
nothing  to  covet."  He  died  happy,  for  he  died 
free  from  envy,  and  envy  resembles  the  Egyptian 
brigands,  the  Philetes,  who  embraced  their  vic- 
tims only  to  strangle  them. 

XL     The  vain  being  whose  life  is  spent  in  the 


-A.inon^  tKe  Unfort\inate  121 

desire  to  astonish  or  to  vex  others,  the  person, 
in  short,  who  Hves  for  the  opinion  of  the  world, 
ceases  to  control  his  own  life. 

And  admire  this  inconsistency  of  human  beings  : 
we  blush  because  we  have  lost  our  hair  and  wear 
a  wig,  yet  we  consider  it  perfectly  normal  to  lose 
our  souls  and  to  Hve  in  the  soul  of  our  neighbours, 
of  our  friends,  or  even  of  that  of  men  to  whom  we 
are  wholly  indifferent. 

Why  place  our  happiness  outside  of  ourselves? 
Why  confide  our  motives  for  living  to  the  passing 
winds?  Why  seek  our  gratification  in  the  annoy- 
ance and  sorrow  of  others? 

We  do  not  entrust  money  to  the  first  person  we 
meet,  but  we  do  confide  to  him  the  causes  of  our 
happiness.  By  making  our  joy  in  living  depend 
upon  the  envy  of  others,  we  embark  upon  a  very 
fragile  boat.  Its  guidance  escapes  us  and  we  are 
delivered  over  to  chance,  which  is  often  cruel, 
almost  always  unjust. 

XII.  The  envy  which  is  shown  possesses  only 
the  very  brief  permanence  of  autumn  clouds. 
It  appears  in  a  smiling  guise  and  departs  trans- 
formed into  wrath,  hatred,  or  vengeance.  Almost 
always  it  becomes  a  desire  to  humiliate  us  in  our 
turn. 

Envy  is  the  wound  which  we  inflict  upon  the 


122  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

souls  of  others.  It  bleeds  visibly  or  invisibly, 
but  it  always  remains  a  hurt.  Perhaps  it  appar- 
ently had  a  just  cause  in  the  period  when  we  lived 
under  the  principle  of  universal  warfare.  But 
now,  when  we  are  establishing  among  the  peoples 
good- will  and  mutual  respect,  envy  seems  to 
belong  to  a  barbaric  age,  and,  in  any  case,  is  stupid. 

In  the  desire  to  create  envy  around  us,  we  confide 
the  happiness  of  our  ego  to  others,  thereby  re- 
nouncing the  principles  dearest  to  our  hearts. 
We  renounce  our  individual  life.  But  by  scorn- 
ing envy,  by  disdaining  to  propagate  it  about  us, 
we  enlarge  our  consciousness.  Our  intense  life — 
and  it  alone  is  real — broadens.  It  does  not  de- 
pend upon  the  imagination  of  others;  it  is  ours, 
thoroughly  our  own  possession. 

Without  envy,  life  will  perhaps  appear  to  us 
less  happy,  but  in  reality  it  will  be  far  more  so. 

B. — The  Benefits  of  Sorrow 

I.  On  the  pretext  of  pitying  man,  pessimism 
destroys  his  sources  of  joy.  It  contemplates 
doing  him  still  more  injury.  Does  it  not  pretend 
to  remove  sorrow?  Yet  without  sorrow,  there  is 
no  pleasure,  no  happiness. 

According  to  Schopenhauer,  his  masters,  and  his 


Among  tKe  Unfortxinate  123 

pupils,  joy,  being  negative,  is  of  little  importance. 
Sorrow  alone  being  positive,  is  the  reality. 
According  to  pessimist  dogmas,  the  happiest  man 
is  he  who  goes  through  life  with  the  minimum  of 
sorrov/s,  and  not  he  to  whose  lot  have  fallen  the 
noblest,  the  keenest,  the  greatest  joys.  The 
scorners  of  gladness  rely  first  upon  Aristotle. 
Has  not  the  great  positivist  said:  "The  wise  man 
desires  absence  of  sorrow  and  not  pleasure" 
{Nikomachean  Ethics)!  They  also  depend  upon 
Voltaire's  affirming  the  exclusive  reality  of  sor- 
row. The  Stoics,  the  Cynics,  millions  of  deluded 
philosophers  and  poets,  hundreds  of  millions  of 
Buddhists,  vie  with  one  another  in  claiming  the 
reality  of  sorrow  and  the  non-existence  of  pleasure, 
of  gladness,  and  of  enjoyments. 

And  yet  the  earth  does  not  cease  revolving,  and 
mortals  do  not  cease  enjoying  its  blessings.  Yes, 
the  earth  turns  and  bears  along  in  the  same  rush 
our  pleasures,  our  joys,  our  sorrows,  our  sufferings. 
The  positive  or  negative  value  of  our  sensations 
count  for  nothing.  All  form  a  portion  of  the  same 
troop  that  accompanies  life  and  lends  it  value. 

We  scorn  joys,  and  to  an  exaggerated  degree 
calumniate  sorrow.  The  latter  is  under  the  lash 
of  a  libel  several  millennia  old.  The  report  re- 
quires revision.     The  sufferings  sorrow  causes  its 


124  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

elect  deprives  their  judgment  of  all  serenity,  and 
also  robs  them  of  all  impartiality. 

II.  Can  we  condemn  sorrow  in  its  entirety? 
Must  it  be  banished  from  human  existence?  The 
counter-proof  is  offered.  There  is  a  class  of  human 
beings  who  are  immune  from  sorrow.  These  are 
idiots,  fools,  and  a  certain  category  of  lunatics. 
They  feel  many  pleasures  and  remain  insensible 
to  sorrow.  A  fixed  smile  on  their  lips  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  condition  of  their  minds.  They  are 
sheltered  from  suffering.  Are  they  happy?  Or 
rather,  who  is  the  man  of  sound  intelligence  who 
would  wish  to  accept  their  happiness? 

Here  is  another  counter-proof. 

Science  has  placed  within  our  reach  the  means 
of  enjoying  the  kind  of  happiness  so  dear  to 
pessimists.  Suggestion  affords  a  vaccine  against 
physical  or  mental  sorrow.  Certain  states  of 
hypnosis  permit  us  to  be  sensible  only  of  bliss. 
Moral  and  physical  stings  no  longer  exert  an  in- 
fluence. Our  impressionability  to  agreeable  sen- 
sations remaining  intact,  we  banish  from  our  life 
positive  sorrows.  Are  we  any  happier  in  conse- 
quence? Those  who  desire  to  make  us  believe 
so  lack  sincerity;  for,  if  they  are  really  convinced 
of  the  benefits  which  the  absence  of  sorrow  would 
procure,  they  need  only  secure  their  safety  through 


Among  tKe  Unfort\inate  125 

suggestion.  This  salvation  is  very  easy  to  attain. 
It  is  accessible  to  all.  Psycho-physiology  teaches 
us  that  as  a  rule  only  idiots  and  lunatics  remain 
rebellious  to  hypnosis  and  suggestion.  The  nor- 
mal man,  in  certain  conditions,  invariably  submits. 
Yet  which  of  us  would  be  willing  to  accept  the 
happiness  that  is  enjoyed  by  idiots,  lunatics,  or 
mediums  in  the  state  of  hypnosis? 

Sorrow  resembles  the  sufferings  of  maternity. 
Women  imdoubtedly  complain  of  them,  yet  they 
receive  them  with  tenderness,  and  water  them  with 
tears  of  happiness.  The  suffering  is  blessed  and 
ardently  desired.  By  creating  life,  life  finds  it- 
self renovated. 

Sorrow  is  similar.  We  fear,  we  shun,  we  exe- 
crate its  coming.  Nevertheless  it  does  come,  and 
on  arriving,  it  gives  value  to  the  joy  of  the  past, 
as  it  will  also  to  that  of  the  future.  Moreover, 
happiness  and  joy  live  only  through  and  often 
within  it. 

III.  Like  the  ground  which  yields  fruits  only 
by  being  deeply  stirred,  our  soul  requires  the 
intervention  of  sorrow  in  order  to  give  its  full 
measure. 

Sorrow  is  the  masculine,  happiness  is  the  fem- 
inine element.  From  their  union  spring  thought, 
effort,  energy,  joy. 


126  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

When  we  strike  the  balance  of  our  past,  we 
perceive  to  what  share  of  the  profits  sorrow 
contributes.  It  ennobles  the  soul,  it  forces  it  to 
reflection.  During  the  constant  march  toward  the 
future,  it  serves  as  a  stopping-place.  It  purifies 
the  soul  and  plays  the  part  of  the  mirror  which 
reflects  its  faults,  its  sins,  its  negligences.  Sor- 
row also  serves  as  a  school,  shows  the  soul  the 
mistakes  in  the  path  pursued  and  reveals  new 
ones.  Our  conscience  grows  through  trial,  says 
popular  wisdom,  and,  by  chance,  popular  wisdom 
is  right. 

Consult  the  select  few.  Look  through  the 
biographies  of  the  great  dead  or  question  the 
great  men  of  our  own  times.  All  will  tell  you  of 
the  beneficent  part  played  by  sorrow  in  the 
formation  of  their  characters.  In  the  tears  shed 
over  their  own  troubles  or  over  the  troubles  of 
their  fellow-creatures,  we  find  almost  always  the 
source  of  progress,  as  we  discover  in  the  sensibility 
of  the  poets  the  source  of  poetry. 

IV.  Nations  are  like  individuals:  they  are 
spiritualised  and  made  greater  by  sorrow.  We 
have  praised  and  continue  to  praise  the  superior 
intelligence  of  the  Jewish  race.  But  this  superior- 
ity is  due  solely  to  the  persecutions  and  to  the 
sufferings  of  the  past.     Modem  times,  in  granting 


A.xnong  tKe  Unfortunate  127 

to  the  Jews,  in  certain  countries,  equality  of  rights, 
have  at  the  same  time  deprived  them  of  their 
recognised  superiority.  The  descendants  of  the 
privileged  race  are  retrograding  in  our  eyes.  With 
the  complete  levelling  of  their  social  and  political 
inequality,  the  sources  of  their  exceptional  gifts 
will  dry  up. 

Parties  which  have  been  in  opposition  to  the 
Government,  when  once  in  power,  lose  their 
worth.  They  are  great  in  persecution,  in  struggle, 
in  suffering.  The  party  ruling  France  at  the 
present  day  only  recalls  the  fate  of  all  minorities 
which  have  replaced  the  sufferings  and  advantages 
of  conflict  with  the  moral  and  mental  decline 
produced  in  time  by  triumph. 

The  suffering  of  our  ancestors,  like  their  happi- 
ness and  their  joy,  enters  into  the  composition  of 
our  souls.  It  forms  a  portion  of  our  spiritual,  as 
it  does  of  our  physical,  health.  We  suffer  from 
the  excesses  or  enjoy  the  temperance  of  our  fore- 
fathers. In  the  depth  or  the  ingenuity  of  the 
mind  of  the  son,  there  is  often  a  large  share  of 
the  suffering  of  the  father,  as  in  the  weakening  of 
his  mind  we  find  the  unconscious  and  easy  life 
of  his  ancestors. 

Even  the  vegetable  kingdom  lives  and  is  re- 
generated   under   the   lash   of   suffering.     Horti- 


128  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

culturists  torture  severely  the  flowers,  which 
forget  this  pain  in  their  happy  lives.  Herbaceous 
plants  are  deprived  of  water,  and  deep  incisions 
are  made  in  the  bark  of  fruit  trees.  Who  has  not 
witnessed  the  spectacle  of  exhuming  and  torturing 
the  roots  of  apple  and  pear-trees?  Our  peasants, 
more  simple-minded,  hack  barren  trees  with 
hatchets.  Renovated  by  the  suffering,  the  trees 
produce  fruit,  the  plants  blossom,  and  the  vines 
are  covered  with  grapes. 

We  have  said,  and  we  do  not  cease  to  repeat  it : 
evil  is  the  condition  of  good,  as  sorrow  is  the 
condition  of  happiness.  The  origin  of  the  most 
brilliant  marvels  of  our  civilisation  is  m.erely  the 
desire  to  combat  the  annoyances  of  life.  Writers 
who,  in  their  love  of  paradoxes,  have  produced 
voluminous  works  to  prove  the  virtues  of  the 
devil,  of  contagious  diseases,  or  of  famine,  per- 
haps have  not  always  been  very  far  from  the 
truth. 

Sorrow,  when  it  does  not  destroy,  strengthens. 
Its  excess,  like  that  of  joy,  puts  an  end  to  life.  It 
is  beneficial  that  it  should  form  one  of  the  ele- 
ments of  existence,  but  it  must  not  be  a  substitute. 
It  is  like  the  poisons  which,  given  in  small  doses, 
save  the  organism.  To  fortify  the  red  globules 
of  our  blood,  certain  serums  are  injected.     The 


Among  tKe  Unfort\inate  129 

dose  must  be  regulated.  Increase  it,  and  you  will 
destroy  the  supplies  of  life. 

To  augment  the  fermentation  of  yeasts,  fluorine 
of  sodium  is  used.  Put  in  too  much,  and  the 
yeasts  will  be  entirely  destroyed. 

V.  Christianity  has  always  practised  a  sort 
of  coquetry  in  regard  to  sorrow,  a  coquetry  that 
is  tender  and  touching.  "Blessed  are  those  who 
mourn,"  says  the  Gospel.  But  Christian  sorrow 
has  been  too  invading,  too  obstructing.  It  did 
not  complete  existence,  but  strove  to  take  its 
place.  Stifled  in  its  embrace,  earthly  life  was 
evaporating,  leaving  to  the  believers  only  the 
mirage  of  heaven.  Besides,  it  was  an  adulterated 
suffering,  nourished  by  divine  ecstasy  and  the 
hope  of  celestial  rewards.  Suffering  thus  became 
a  morbid  joy.  The  martyrs  shed  tears  of  delight, 
the  fruit  of  unutterable  pleasures.  So  long  as 
men  sincerely  believed  in  Paradise,  this  metamor- 
phosis of  human  sorrow  into  a  divine  bliss  was 
possible.  Modem  scepticism,  having  blended  with 
these  celestial  combinations,  has  destroyed  their 
effect.  Deprived  of  faith,  Christian  sorrow  has 
ceased  to  smile  upon  its  followers  and,  since  this 
has  become  laical,  other  reasons  are  required  to 
work  the  charm.  Above  all,  other  causes  are 
necessary  to  justify  its  existence. 


130  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Superficial  minds  libel  sorrow.  Unsettled  pessi- 
mists render  it  ro^^al  honours.  But  they  banish 
it  from  the  city  and,  with  it,  life.  The  truth  is  to 
be  found  between  these  strange  apologists  and  the 
furious  destroyers.  Since  life  undertakes  a  lavish 
distribution  of  troubles,  it  would  be  superfluous 
to  seek  to  facilitate  its  task.  For  heaven's  sake, 
let  us  not  increase  the  amount  of  suffering  upon 
earth,  far  less  create  it  needlessly.  It  exists, 
and  will  continue  to  exist.  The  philosopher 
should  draw  from  it  the  best  advantage. 

Let  us  not  tremble  in  the  presence  of  sorrow, 
for  it  rarely  leaves  us  disarmed.  The  keenest 
anguish  has  only  an  ephemeral  life.  It  is  created 
by  us,  depends  upon  us,  and  lies  within  us.  To  be 
convinced  of  this  fact,  we  need  only  see  how  sorrow 
acts.  Some  laugh  at  a  blow  to  their  vanity,  others 
grieve  over  it.  Financial  losses  cause  terrible 
tremors  in  some  of  us,  and  leave  others  indifferent. 

VI.  We  identify  erroneously  physiological  and 
psychological  suffering,  that  of  our  body  and  that 
of  our  mind.  The  discovery  of  the  nerves  spe- 
cially affected  by  sorrow,  the  dolorific  nerves, 
thanks  principally  to  the  labours  of  M.  Frey,  no 
longer  permits  this  confusion.' 

'  Here  are  some  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  M,  Frey; 
There  are  two  thresholds  of  the  skin :   one  for  the  sensations  of 
pressure,  another  for  pain.     The  four  cutaneous  senses  are  re- 


Amon^  tKe  Unfortunate  131 

And  yet,  there  is  a  reciprocal  and  often  decisive 
action  of  the  phenomena  of  the  mind  upon  those 
of  the  body.  Moreover,  as  we  have  previously 
pointed  out,  the  disenchantment  and  the  sadness 
which  degenerate  into  a  sort  of  pessimistic  melan- 
choly, are  most  frequently  due  to  the  diminution 
of  the  vital  energy.  And  as  pain  and  sorrow  mark 
the  diminution,  the  joy  of  living  and  the  upspring- 
ing  of  happiness  signify  the  increase  of  energy,  the 
health  of  the  organism. 

By  using  special  instruments,  such  as  the 
plethy sinograph  of  Hallion,  the  pneumograph  of 
Marey,  the  sphygmometer  of  Cheron,  and  so 
many  others  which  have  come  in  fashion  during 
these  latter  years,  we  have  succeeded  in  proving 
experimentally  that  joy,  sadness,  and  pain  depend 
upon  our  energy.  We  feel  pain  when  the  energy 
of  one  of  our  faculties  finds  it  impossible  to  move 
freely.  In  the  contrary  case  we  experience 
pleasure,  joy.  Joy,  modem  physiologists  tell  us, 
is  the  consciousness  of  the  circulation,  which  is 
acting  easily  in  the  nervous  centres. 

Let  us  observe  more  closely  the  birth  of  a  physi- 
cal pain.     When  a  man's  arm  is  cut  off,  what 

duced     to    four    categories    of    nervous,    sensitive,    etc.,    etc., 
terminations. 

See  on  this  subject,  among  others,  The  Psycho-physiology  of 
Pain,  by  Drs.  Joteyko  and  Stefanovska. 


132  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

happens?  The  cells  of  the  injured  member  can 
no  longer  exercise  their  function.  Their  energy 
is  restrained  and  paralysed.  The  inflammations  or 
attacks  of  fever  serve  as  a  way  by  which  the  de- 
ranged energy  escapes.  And  the  organism  suffers 
in  proportion  to  the  greater  violence  of  the  injury. 
But  let  the  accident  be  spread  over  a  longer 
period  of  time,  let  the  organism  adapt  itself  to 
the  change,  let  the  energy  of  the  cells  shift  during 
the  interval,  and  the  suffering  will  proportionally 
diminish. 

This  is  the  reason  why  chronic  diseases  and  the 
most  radical,  but  extremely  slow  changes  which 
take  place  in  our  organism,  cause  only  slight 
pain. 

The  same  rule  applies  in  the  moral  domain. 

We  must  keep  in  reserve  the  power  of  our  souls. 
Thanks  to  its  influence,  sufferings  and  sorrows 
assume  salutary  forms.  These  sorrows  will  cir- 
culate freely  through  our  minds,  like  the  sensations 
of  physical  pain  that  flow  without  suffering  through 
the  nervous  centres.  For  moral  or  physical 
pangs  can  do  nothing  but  retreat  before  the 
intense  energy  of  our  souls  and  of  our  bodies. 

VII.  The  belief  in  moral  suffering  existing  in 
itself  resembles  the  barbaric  superstition  relative 
to   fire.     Candid    minds   regard   it   as   a    quality 


Among  tHe  Unfort\inate  133 

inherent  in  wood  or  in  coal.  The  same  illusion  of 
our  senses  which  makes  us  believe  in  the  sweetness 
hidden  in  each  bit  of  sugar,  or  in  the  bitterness  of 
quinine,  inspires  the  idea  that  sadness  and  pain 
are  found  in  the  phenomena  which  precede  them. 
Yet  an  examination  of  the  physical  pain  which  is 
most  susceptible  to  analysis  is  sufficient  to  enable 
us  to  perceive  our  error.  A  blow  from  a  club  which 
will  strike  down  a  dog  is  scarcely  felt  by  an  ele- 
phant. The  same  operation  which  makes  a 
person  of  sensitive  intellect  faint,  leaves  an  idiot 
unmoved.  The  same  light  which  blinds  a  dis- 
eased eye  is  pleasant  to  a  sound  one.  Human 
flesh,  an  object  of  horror  to  civilised  men,  is  the 
delight  of  cannibals.  Certain  vices  which  are 
repulsive  and  unimaginable  to  so  many  men,  are 
the  source  of  rapture  in  others. 

Consequently,  pain,  as  well  as  pleasure,  is  to  be 
found  neither  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  nor  in  human 
flesh,  nor  in  vice.  They  are  within  ourselves. 
The  pedagogy  of  the  will  easily  succeeds  in  in- 
creasing or  diminishing  their  intensity.  It  will 
even  reach  the  point  of  creating  or  destroying 
them,  at  the  pleasure  of  its  interests. 

The  comprehension  of  certain  sorrows  would  be 
equivalent  to  their  diminution,  if  not  to  their 
destruction.     Let  us  take  the  deepest,  occasioned 


134  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

by  implacable  death,  and  try  to  reason  concerning 
them.  Standing  beside  the  tomb  of  a  friend,  we 
forget  the  moments  spent  together.  Yet  the 
sweet  feelings  bequeathed  by  the  dead  remain  as 
an  inviolable  inheritance.  We  forget  the  past  as  a 
source  of  joys,  to  think  only  of  the  future,  which 
is  not  always  smiling. 

Spiritualists  or  realists  do  not  remember  that 
in  their  tears  floats  transparently  a  fierce  selfish- 
ness. In  the  thought  "what  will  become  of  us" 
after  the  affection  is  snatched  away,  there  is  no 
room  for  the  departed.  We  forget  his  pains,  his 
sufferings,  his  maladies,  which  have  rendered  the 
deliverance  desirable  to  him,  to  think  only  of  our 
own  pleasures  or  injured  interests. 

Let  us  broaden  this  observation  and  strive  to 
make  it  enter  our  consciousness.  Nor  must  we 
lose  sight  of  the  interests  of  those  who  have  gone. 
Our  softened  egotism  will  then  find  means  to 
solace  the  suffering  of  those  who  despair  at  the 
sight  of  those  who  are  passing.  And  yet  this  is  the 
greatest  and  the  most  irreparable  of  all  our  sorrows. 

VIII.  Pain,  in  its  essence,  is  eternal.  It  pursues 
because  it  is  united  with  our  happiness.  It  is  the 
reverse  of  the  medal  of  life.  The  question  is  not  to 
know  how  to  destroy  it,  but  how  to  draw  from  it 
strength  and  beneficent  instruction;    for  this  as- 


Among  tHe  Unfortunate 


135 


serted  poison  contains  treasures  of  honey.  Yet 
there  must  not  be  too  much.  The  instinctive  aim 
of  the  individual  is  to  diminish  the  dose.  This  is 
also  the  object  of  progress  in  matters  concerning 
the  whole  race. 

So  let  us  be  reconciled  to  sorrow.  Without  it, 
life  would  not  be  complete.  It  is  a  little  Hke  the 
Paschal  lamb,  which,  according  to  the  Bible, 
must  be  eaten  with  bitter  herbs.  What  a  deHght- 
ful  intimation  that,  without  bitterness,  there  is 
no  joy. 

Pain  is,  moreover,  our  teacher  of  energy.  Plea- 
sure enervates.  Joy,  long  continued,  exhausts 
us.  Sorrow  strengthens.  It  often  acts  Hke  the 
shower-bath  administered  to  neurasthenics.  They 
shriek  while  receiving  it,  yet  they  emerge  from 
it  rejuvenated  and  regenerated. 

C. — Prejudice  of  Wealth 

I.  The  beHef  in  happiness  through  the  posses- 
sion of  riches  resembles  the  tradition  so  widely 
diffused  in  the  Middle  Ages,  of  the  icy  caresses 
of  the  devil.  All  the  women  accused  of  witch- 
craft were  of  one  mind  in  their  confessions.  The 
evenings  spent  with  Beelzebub  lacked  charm.  His 
embraces  had  a  deadly  chill.     These  complaints 


136  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

are  heard  from  all  who  passed  a  night  with  Satan. 
He  was  handsome  and  irresistible,  but  his  kisses 
froze  them  with  terror. 

Wealth  procures  happiness,  sincere  souls  de- 
clare, and  they  are  believed.  The  affirmation 
is  repeated  as  proof  itself.  All  are  convinced  of 
it,  as  the  women  beloved  by  the  devil  were  con- 
vinced of  the  chill  of  his  kisses. 

II.  The  wisdom  of  the  nations  contains  valu- 
able instruction  concerning  the  futility  of  riches. 
Ancient  thought  and  modern  ideas  agree  on  this 
point. — And  the  religions  do  not  contradict  the 
philosophers.  The  same  sounds  of  the  bell  reach 
us  from  every  direction.  "Distrust  wealth!  Dis- 
trust a  luxurious  life." 

The  wisest  and  most  brilliant  of  kings,  Solomon, 
a  royal  expert  on  the  subject,  he  who,  by  his  own 
confession,  had  undertaken  to  study  the  value  of 
all  things  under  the  sun,  thus  sums  up  his  ex- 
perience : 

^  "I  gathered  me  also  silver  and  gold  and  the 
peculiar  treasure  of  kings  and  of  the  provinces; 
I  gat  me  men  singers  and  women  singers,  and  the 
delights  of  the  sons  of  men.  I  had  great  posses- 
sions above  all  that  were  in  Jerusalem  before  me. " 

And,  after  having  weighed  the  happiness  he  had 

»  Ecclesiastes,  Chapter  II:  8  and  following. 


Among'  tKe  Unfortxinate  137 

obtained  from  his  riches  and  his  pleasures,  the 
great  Solomon  perceived  that  all  was  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit. 

Nature,  a  peerless  teacher  when  we  listen  to  and 
follow  her  commands,  shows  us  that  the  heights 
of  things  endure  most  easily  the  vicissitudes  of 
fate.  Horace  has  eloquently  translated  this  in 
his  verses.  "The  lofty  oak,"  he  says,  "is  most 
frequently  beaten  by  the  storm;  tall  towers 
crumble  with  the  greatest  noise.  And  it  is  the 
peaks  of  the  moimtains  which  are  struck  by  the 
thunderbolt."' 

When  literature  desires  to  describe  happy 
people,  it  withdraws  them  from  the  throng,  de- 
prives them  of  great  riches,  great  honours,  great 
companies.  It  even  wrests  from  them  fame.  The 
idyl,  the  poetic  form  which  monopolises  the  happi- 
ness of  its  heroes,  paints  them  in  very  humble 
conditions.  Poverty  suits  its  favourites,  as  beauty 
patches  harmonise  with  certain  faces. 

The  voices  of  philosophers,  prophets,  or  writers, 
from  whatever  direction  they  may  come,  from  the 
North  or  from  the  South,  from  the  West  or  from 
the  East,  echo  with  the  same  exasperating  mono- 
tony: "Man,  rely  solely  upon  thyself.  Neglect 
riches  and  enjoy  the  kingdom  of  thy  own  personal- 

'  Feriuntque  summos  fulmina  monies  (Horace,  Odes,  I,  ii,  10.) 


138  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

ity."  Why  is  it  that  the  instruction  of  the  pro- 
phets, philosophers,  poets,  writers,  and  thinkers 
should  have  glided  over  the  souls  of  human  beings 
like  water  over  rock? 

What  Is  Seen 

III.  Poverty  and  humble  life,  we  are  told, 
narrow  the  intellect,  which  dwindles  and  disap- 
pears. Deprived  of  wide  horizons,  of  the  throngs 
of  men,  and  the  splendours  of  life,  the  intellect 
dies  as  do  flowers  in  deserted  gardens. 

What  Is  Not  Seen 

A  wasted  life,  which  is  the  condition  imposed 
by  society,  destroys  the  good  qualities  of  man,  and 
makes  the  evil  ones  triumph.  His  intelligence,  it 
is  true,  sparkles  with  glaring  colours,  but  its 
development  is  merely  artificial,  and  resembles 
the  double  blossoms  whose  beauty  is  produced  by 
the  transformation  of  stamens  into  petals  and 
which  become  sterile. 

IV.  Seated  at  a  round  table  once  used  by  Louis 
XIV,  in  armchairs  classed  as  among  the  most  au- 
thentic of  the  ancient  ones  of  Beauvais,  surrounded 
by  pictures  of  the  masters  of  the  Renaissance,  we 


A.inong  tHe  Unfortvinate  139 

were  talking  together.  The  drawing-room  we 
occupied  is  considered  the  handsomest  and  the 
most  costly  in  Paris,  and  represents  in  itself  the 
value  of  a  small  provincial  city.  My  host,  whose 
name  stands  for  happiness  and  wealth,  smiled 
mournfully  when  he  heard  my  question: 

"Are  you  happy?" 

"Very  happy  in  the  opinion  of  others.  But 
what  constitutes  happiness?  If  it  is  a  series  of 
pleasures  and  gratifications,  I  very  rarely  experience 
any  of  these.  Everything  yields  or  appears  to 
yield  before  the  power  of  our  wealth.  Disappoint- 
ments cause  us  annoyance  as  they  do  other  people, 
but  we  are  not  delighted  by  success.  The  increase 
of  our  riches — for  is  it  not  said  that  we  are  constantly 
increasing  them? — leaves  us  indifferent,  for  we  well 
know  their  part  in  our  happiness." 

"But  the  acquisition  of  these  treasures  of  art 
for  which  all  connoisseurs  envy  you?" 

"They  undoubtedly  afford  intense  delight — to 
the  man  who  sells  them  to  me. " 

Then,  after  a  little  hesitation,  my  host  con- 
tinued : 

"There  is  one  rare  joy  that  very  wealthy  people 
experience  almost  never.  It  is  labour  crowned  with 
success,  a  goal  attained  after  the  efforts  of  long 
years.     We  lack,  in  short,  that  which  gives  life 


140  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

its  zest:  its  troubles,  its  difficulties.  I  do  not 
mention  the  sorrows  with  which  the  playwrights 
and  novelists  load  us,  the  impossibility  of  finding 
along  our  path  of  life  disinterested  feelings." 

** Is  not  your  case  exceptional?" 

"Look  around  me.  See  the  members  of  my 
family,  who  are  so  generally  envied.  Examine 
their  colourless  existence,  their  hopeless  melancholy, 
the  lowering  of  their  energy,  and  you  will  behold 
the  wrong  side  of  time-honoured  wealth. " 

On  that  day  I  had  the  effrontery  to  pity  the 
richest  man  in  Paris. 

V.  Life  is  dear  to  us.  What  is  life  without  our 
personality?  Yet  one  of  the  essential  conditions 
of  a  broad  existence  is  the  abnegation  of  the 
individual  treasure. 

When  we  no  longer  make  our  happiness  depend 
upon  our  own  will,  we  make  it  depend  upon  the  will 
of  others.  Wealth  bestows  many  fictitious  plea- 
sures. On  the  other  hand,  it  deprives  us  of  the 
only  real  blessings  which  man  can  enjoy  on  earth : 
the  independence  of  personality,  and  the  free 
expansion  of  our  Ego. 

The  general  belief  maintains  precisely  the 
opposite — a  mere  optical  illusion.  We  must 
distinguish  between  the  abstract  power  of  money 
and  the  use  of  wealth.     Those  who  wish  to  enjoy 


Among'  tHe  Unfortvinate 


141 


their  fortune  depend  principally  upon  Society, 
where  they  exercise  their  functions  as  rich  men. 
Their  sovereignty  resembles  that  of  the  constitu- 
tional deputies.  Fleeting  masters,  their  authority 
is  composed  of  the  good-will  of  those  whom  they 
command.  They  maintain  themselves  on  the 
surface  only  by  sacrificing  everything  which  con- 
stitutes the  real  value  of  the  man.  They  sacrifice 
the  royalty  of  their  minds  to  receive  in  exchange 
the  vitiated  incense  of  homage.  And  these  pass 
by  happiness. 

The  feelings  created  by  the  inner  life,  which  is 
the  only  one  compatible  with  the  simple  life,  are 
of  a  rarer,  because  purer,  essence. 

From  all  the  heights  of  human  thought  comes 
to  us  the  same  love  of  the  secluded,  modest  life, 
the  life  of  the  mind,  the  life  almost  seeking  soli- 
tude. "All  those  who  have  wished  to  enjoy  on 
earth  the  heavenly  Hfe,"  Giordano  Bruno  con- 
fesses, "have  said  with  one  voice:  'I  fled,  and 
have  remained  in  solitude.'"  La  Bruyere  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  tell  us  that  aU  our  misfortune 
proceeds  from  our  inability  to  remain  alone. 
There  are  small  tempests,  says  Balzac,^  which 

'Le  Cure  de  Tours  .  .  .  "Abb6  Troubert's  hours  flowed  on 
rapturously,  flitted  by  with  thoughts  as  delightful,  were  ruffled 
by  hopes  and  sorrows  as  profound  as  could  be  those  of  the  ambi- 
tious  aspirant,  of  the  gambler,  of  the  lover  ..." 


142  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

develop  in  souls  as  much  passion  as  would  be 
required  to  direct  the  greatest  social  interests. 

The  life  of  Emily  Bronte,  which  was  spent  in  a 
little  village  isolated  from  the  world,  reflects 
more  thought,  energy,  passion,  and  adventures 
than  would  have  been  required  to  animate  and 
supply  half  a  score  of  Octave  Feuillet's  or  Paul 
Bourget's  heroines. 

We  ought  to  love  solitude.  We  should  then 
more  ftdly  realise  the  value  of  human  individual- 
ity. Wealth  would  have  less  hold  upon  our 
imagination,  and  we  should  understand  that  the 
sacrifices  which  are  often  necessary  to  acquire  it 
do  not  correspond  with  the  advantages  at  its 
command.  We  should  also  comprehend  that 
nature  exacts  too  great  a  payment  for  the  illusive 
advantages  of  fortune.  We  should  regard  wealth 
with  less  envy  and  its  beneficiaries  with  more 
sympathy.  The  poor,  when  rid  of  envy,  wotdd  be 
as  rich  as  the  most  opulent  in  the  world. 

VI.  The  negroes,  when  emancipated  from  their 
long  slavery,  shed  tears  of  love  upon  their  ancient 
fetters. 

When  we  speak  of  destroying  the  worship  of 
wealth,  even  those  who  have  most  to  gain  by  it 
rebel  angrily.  I  can  see  shocked  economists  and 
sociologists  treat  me  as  an  ignoramus,  even  as  an 


-Amon^  tKe  Unfortiinate  143 

anarchist.  But  who,  in  our  times,  is  not  an 
economist?  Yet  certain  very  well-balanced  socio- 
logists do  not  fear  to  denounce  the  homage  lavished 
upon  wealth  as  the  principal  source  of  the  mal- 
practices of  modern  commerce. 

Herbert  Spencer  accuses  the  public  who  kneel 
before  wealth,  of  being  guilty  of  all  the  crimes 
committed  by  the  merchants.'  "You  would 
have  difficulty,"  he  says,  "in  finding  a  man  who 
would  not  treat  with  more  civility  a  rascal  clad 
in  fine  cloth  than  a  knave  in  fustian. " 

Matters  are  growing  worse.  Society  always 
treats  with  more  respect  a  very  wealthy  thief 
than  a  very  poor  honest  man. 

A  reaction  has  become  necessary.  This  struggle 
against  the  god  Mammon  offers  chances  of  success. 
It  is  enough  to  see  what  the  initiative  of  one  man's 
energy  has  been  able  to  accomplish  in  this  direc- 
tion. President  Roosevelt,  by  attacking  dishonest 
milHonaires  in  a  country  where  wealth  takes  the 
place  of  rank,  of  traditions,  and  of  all  other 
honours,  has  shown  the  fragility  of  its  worship. 
When  the  crimes  of  the  poor  and  of  the  rich  shall 
be  placed  on  the  same  level ;  when  indirect  robbery 
and  murder,  often  covered  by  the  name  of  specu- 
lation or  of  monopoly,  shall  be  compared  with 

»  First  Principles:  Commercial  Morals. 


144  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

direct  crimes,  the  religion  of  the  god  Million  will 
be' humiliated  to  a  degree  from  which  it  will  be 
difficult  to  recover. 

VII.  We  no  longer  possess  wealth.  Wealth 
possesses  us.  Its  impious  and  degrading  worship 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  respect  due  to  its 
beneficent  action.  We  should  use  a  power  without 
falling  into  idolatry.  When  wealth  has  again 
become  a  mere  instrument,  humanity  will  draw 
from  it  all  that  it  is  capable  of  bestowing.  The 
point  in  question  is  not  to  despise  money.  We  do 
not  scorn  any  instrument,  but  we  do  without  one 
which  is  not  within  our  reach.  In  this  conflict 
between  happiness  and  human  dignity  on  the  one 
hand  and  money  on  the  other,  the  victory  will 
remain  with  the  dignity  of  man. 

In  proportion  as  the  latter  progresses — and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  demonstrate  that  it  alone 
should  not  progress — we  shall  understand  how 
dishonouring  it  is  to  men  to  see  themselves 
classed  according  to  the  number  of  coins  assigned 
them. 

Who  is  the  poor  man?  Who  is  the  rich  man? 
A  multi-millionaire  reduced  to  only  a  few  millions 
would  doubtless  be  very  poor.  A  pauper  unex- 
pectedly receiving  a  thousand-franc  note  would 
consider  himself  rich.     Everything  depends  upon 


Among'  tHe  Unfortxjinate  145 

the  angle  at  which  we  place  ourselves  to  consider 
poverty  or  its  antipode,  wealth. 

The  triteness  of  this  thought  is  universally 
recognised.  It  has  been  voiced  and  repeated  in 
every  tone.  We  even  take  the  trouble  to  recall 
it  to  friends  who  are  in  distress.  Yet  we  lack  the 
strength  of  soul  to  apply  it  to  ourselves.  We 
destroy  our  health  by  fretting  because  we  do  not 
have  at  our  disposal  all  that  the  rich  possess,  and 
we  add  to  regrets  envy,  which  is  like  quenching 
thirst  by  eating  salt.  But  what  is  the  happiness 
of  the  rich,  what  is  the  happiness  of  the  poor? 
We  admire  wealth,  as  Bengal  light  is  often  admired. 
Blinded,  we  do  not  even  wait  for  the  dying  of  the 
sparks,  and  we  go  away  under  the  delusion  of 
having  seen  a  genuine  fire  of  diamonds. 

But  let  us  permit  the  spectacle  to  go  on  to  the 
close.  Let  us  consider  the  rich.  Let  us  weigh 
the  sum  of  their  asserted  happiness.  Let  us 
regard  them  without  the  blinding  glare  that  wealth 
imparts.  Let  us  observe,  especially,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  countries  of  gold  and  gems.  In  what 
respect  is  their  destiny  better? 

Lucretius  justly  asked :  ' '  Does  the  burning  fever 
leave  thy  limbs  more  quickly  when  they  writhe 
upon  embroidered  stuffs  blazing  with  crimson, 
than  when  sleep  must  come  upon  the  coarse  couch 


146  XHe   Science  of  Happiness 

of  the  common  people?"  And  since  neither 
treasures  nor  nobiHty,  nor  the  glory  of  the  diadem 
benefit  the  body,  we  must  believe  that  these 
superfluous  advantages  are  no  less  useless  to  the 
soul. 

What  a  profound  book  yet  remains  to  be  written 
under  the  title :    The  Troubles  of  Wealth. 

The  rich  man  is  neither  more  intelligent,  nor 
more  virtuous,  nor  more  healthy  than  the  poor 
one.  Nor  is  his  chance  of  becoming  famous 
greater  than  the  poor  man's.  History  even  as- 
serts the  contrary.  The  illustrious  men,  the  great 
conquerors  in  science,  literature,  or  politics  are 
chiefly  recruited  among  people  in  modest  circum- 
stances. Apuleius  justly  says  that  all  those  who 
command  our  admiration  by  their  glory  have  been 
nourished  from  the  cradle  by  poverty .  ' '  Poverty , ' ' 
he  tells  us,  "in  the  early  ages,  has  been  seen  found- 
ing cities,  inventing  arts,  holding  vice  aloof, 
lavishing  fame,  deserving  the  eulogies  of  all  the 
nations.  We  have  beheld  it  in  Greece  become 
by  turns  justice  in  Aris tides,  goodness  in  Phocion, 
courage  in  Epaminondas,  wisdom  in  Socrates, 
eloquence  in  Homer.  In  Rome,  it  witnessed  the 
beginning  of  the  Roman  empire." 

Serenity  of  mind  is  the  condition  of  our  happi- 
ness.    Now,    from    this   standpoint,    "no   one   is 


Among  tHe  Unfortvinate  147 

more  miserable  than  a  rich  man,"  says  Bacon. 
"He  has  little  to  desire  and  much  to  fear." 
Health  is  the  most  appreciable  of  all  our  benefits. 
But,  "if  the  rich  man  desires  to  keep  well," 
remarks  Sir  Richard  Temple,  "he  must  live  like  a 
poor  man." 

Everywhere  and  always  poverty  was  the  priv- 
ileged soil  where  grew  the  noblest  and  highest 
himian  plants.  Poets  or  scientists,  artists  or 
leaders  of  the  peoples,  all  owe  to  it  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  the  moral  qualities  which  have  created 
their  personalities,  maintained  them,  and  made 
them  triumph. 

VIII.  Poverty  must  be  distinguished  from 
pauperism.  The  second  begins  with  the  privation 
of  things  necessary  to  existence,  while  the  former, 
after  all,  is  only  the  condition  of  modest  living. 

The  poverty  which  permits  us  to  lead  a  free 
existence  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  de- 
pressing yoke  of  pauperism.  Their  demarcation, 
theoretically  impossible,  is  only  the  result  of  the 
concrete  circumstances  of  life.  Ordinarily  a  man 
who  can  feed  and  maintain  his  family  and  secure 
them  the  possibility  of  developing  freely,  is  not  a 
destitute  person.  Below  this  limit  begins  pauper- 
ism, one  of  the  most  serious  anxieties  of  modern 
government.     Absolute   equality   before   the   law 


148  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

has,  as  its  corollary,  mitigated  equality  in  life. 
The  unfortunate  strugglers  must  be  assured  the 
bread  necessary  for  their  bodies  and  the  intellectual 
nourishment  required  for  their  souls. 

The  emancipation  of  the  destitute  is  forced  upon 
and  is  sought  in  all  countries.  All  men  cannot 
be  made  rich.  The  poor  will  continue  to  exist. 
There  will  be  poor  men,  because  there  will  be  rich 
ones.  But  we  are  poor  only  by  comparison  with 
those  who  have  more  than  we  possess.  Absolute 
equality,  perhaps,  will  never  exist  except  in  the 
brains  of  incorrigible  Utopians  or  of  demagogues 
jeering  at  their  neighbours. 

The  most  certain  thing  is  that,  in  the  society 
of  the  future,  with  its  obligatory  pensions  for  the 
aged,  the  unemployed,  and  the  infirm,  with  the 
free  schools  and  the  abolition  of  privileges,  there 
will  doubtless  no  longer  be  destitute  persons  in 
the  true  meaning  of  the  word.  The  case  of  the 
poor,  that  is,  of  persons  deprived  of  fortune, 
though  having  an  assured  living,  will  undoubtedly 
persist.  But  this  poverty  will  no  longer  have  the 
same  severity.  Above  all,  it  will  no  longer  have 
the  stamp  of  organic  infirmity  which  it  possesses  in 
our  times.  The  definition  of  poor,  so  difficult  from 
the  material,  is  easy  from  the  moral  standpoint. 

Whoever   desires   things   that   are  inaccessible 


-Among  tKe  Unfortunate  149 

is  poor,  whoever  has  all  that  he  desires  is  rich. 
Therefore  the  richest  man  would  be  the  one  who 
wishes  for  nothing  that  he  lacks.  "Emilianus," 
cries  a  Roman  writer,  "if  you  want  to  make  me  a 
poor  man,  you  must  first  prove  my  cupidity." 
For  what  is  cupidity?  Intense  and  multiple 
desire.  But  whoever  desires  much,  lacks  much, 
and  thus  becomes  a  man  who  is  very  poor  and 
worthy  of  compassion,  while  the  man  who  wants 
only  what  he  can  obtain,  possesses  rare  opulence. 

To  command  inexhaustible  resources  is  nothing. 
The  important  point  is  not  to  have  desires  that 
siu-pass  our  resources. 

A  wealthy  man  told  me,  with  deep  sadness,  of 
his  shattered  health,  which  no  longer  permitted 
him  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  table.  He  was 
very  much  distressed.  ''But  think,"  I  said  to 
him,  "of  the  enjoyment  a  glass  of  cool,  pure 
water  bestows.  Put  yourself  frequently  n  a 
condition  of  extreme  thirst  and  compare  your 
impressions." 

A  few  months  later  I  saw  him  again,  and  he 
admitted  that  the  water  of  the  poor,  when  we 
know  how  to  enjoy  it,  is  worth  more  than  all  the 
choice  liquors  of  the  wealthy.  It  is  the  same  with 
all  the  objects  of  our  covetousness. 

IX.     I    read    one    day    a    story    that    greatly 


150  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

impressed  me.  Crates,  renowned  among  the 
principal  citizens  of  Thebes  for  his  wealth  and  his 
nobility,  made  a  gift  to  the  people  of  his  entire 
riches.  He  preferred  a  simple  staff  to  all  his  fruit 
trees ;  he  exchanged  the  most  magnificent  country 
houses  for  a  wallet.  Crates  praised  the  latter  in 
verses  imitated  from  the  passage  in  which  Homer 
lauds  the  island  of  Crete : 

"  Surrounded  by  this  luxury  and  by  these  heaps  of  gold, 
I  my  wallet  as  my  city  and  dearest  treasure  hold." 

How  many  like  Crates  do  we  not  find  in  the  history 
of  all  the  nations?  An  anthology  of  the  sensible 
people  who,  after  having  experienced  the  painful 
burden  of  wealth,  have  devoted  it  to  the  benefit 
of  their  fellow-citizens,  would  deserve  to  be  pub- 
lished at  the  expense  of  a  friend  of  humanity. 

Certain  truths,  however,  are  like  temperature. 
We  must  become  accustomed  to  them,  otherwise 
we  shall  find  them  too  far  above  or  too  far  below 
our  minds.  There  are  some  moral  truths  which 
appear  almost  inaccessible  to  man.  Our  will 
rejects  them,  reason  condemns  them,  our  hearts 
turn  from  them.  Thus  no  one  will  consent  to 
discuss  the  antinomy,  which  separates  wealth 
and  happiness. 

The  possibility  of  such  a  discussion  offends  our 


A.mon^  tKe  Unfortxinate  151 

good  sense.  The  mistake  lies  in  the  erroneous 
suggestions  which  we  have  endured  from  childhood. 

X.  The  glittering  happiness  of  the  rich  recalls 
the  sumptuous  appearance  of  certain  plants. 
Covered  with  a  riot  of  leaves,  stems,  tubers,  shoots, 
they  attract  and  charm  our  eyes.  A  superficial 
observer  pauses  before  them,  dazzled.  His  ignor- 
ance conceals  from  him  the  drawbacks  of  their 
existence.  He  does  not  know  that  they  rarely 
blossom.  Neither  is  he  aware  that  when  they  do 
succeed  in  flowering,  they  do  not  produce  seeds. 

The  worship  of  wealth  dates,  probably,  from  the 
first  modification  which  occurred  in  the  means  of 
exchange  among  the  men  of  the  Stone  Age. 
Always  revered,  almost  never  opposed,  wealth 
has  among  its  most  fervent  worshippers  many 
religions  and  their  priests,  the  civil  power  and  its 
upholders,  soldiers,  philosophers,  and  writers. 

There  was  a  time  in  Rome  and  in  ancient 
Egypt,  when  the  philosophers,  like  the  women  of 
our  day,  took  little  dogs  to  walk,  after  having 
taught  their  mistresses  contempt  for  wealth.  .  .  . 
Doubtless  their  lessons  did  not  change  the  face 
of  affairs. 

The  religion  of  gold  is  the  oldest  institution  in  the 
world.  Its  reign,  a  very  permanent  one,  seems 
the  most  solid  of  them  all.     While  every  belief 


152  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

has  varied,  the  dogma  of  beneficial  gold  has  re- 
mained immutable.  Shall  we  ever  succeed  in 
changing  it?  I  am  sure  of  the  fact.  To  doubt  it, 
we  should  be  compelled  to  admit  that  it  constitutes 
an  organic  necessity  of  the  body  or  of  the  soul. 
But  the  matter  concerns  only  a  superstition. 
We  nourish  it  with  our  best  resources  and  lavish 
upon  it  everything:  strength,  vitality,  and  mys- 
terious virtues.  Cease  feeding  it,  and  it  will 
cease  to  live. 

For  a  long  period  chemists  confounded  and 
studied  under  the  same  name  of  didymium,  two 
different  bodies,  now  known  as  neodymium  and 
praseodymium. 

Perhaps  at  no  very  distant  day,  we  shall  separate 
in  an  equally  decisive  manner  wealth  and  happiness. 

There  are  men  bom  and  reared  in  opulence,  as 
many  plants  are  grown  in  a  rich  soil.  The  agave 
(mvipara),  when  cultivated  in  ground  that  is  too 
fertile,  produces  only  bulbs,  but  no  seeds.  Many 
plants  perish  under  the  influence  of  this  apparent 
advantage.  There  are  undoubtedly  many  rich 
people  who  suffer  from  the  same  fate. 

XL  Each  one  of  us  possesses  one  source  of 
unknown  wealth:  habit.  This  enables  us  to 
accommodate  ourselves  to  everything,  including 
ungratified  necessities. 


Among  tKe  Unfortvinate  153 

But  wealth  is  not  a  necessity.  At  most  it  is 
an  irrational  desire. 

Mankind  often  employs  many  centuries  in 
acquiring  essential  truths.  But  conviction  once 
attained,  it  strives  to  overtake  lost  time.  The 
equality  of  men  before  the  law  is  only  a  himdred 
years  old,  yet  what  has  not  been  done  in  its  name! 

It  will  be  the  same  in  the  case  of  wealth  as  in 
the  case  of  the  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man,  or 
of  the  excesses  of  war.  A  day  will  come  when  the 
governments  will  put  forth  as  many  efforts  to 
establish  the  reign  of  peace  as  they  have  done  to 
maintain  war.  Then  peace  will  triumph.  A  day 
will  also  come  when  we  shall  perceive  all  the  evil 
which  modem  institutions  are  perpetrating  to 
maintain  the  Vv^orship  of  wealth,  and  its  worship 
will  end.  While  awaiting  this  delightful  moment, 
let  us  marvel  at  the  means  of  domination  which  we 
lend  to  riches. 

From  our  earliest  youth,  the  endeavour  is  made 
to  bend  our  knees  before  the  Golden  Calf.  Teach- 
ers show  a  sort  of  esteem  for  wealthy  pupils.  The 
poor  ones  can  only  imitate  them.  Newspapers 
and  books  laud  rich  men;  novelists  confer  upon 
them  the  dignity  of  heroes,  as  the  Government 
bestows  titles  of  honour.  The  churches  reserve 
privileged   places,    the   places   of  benefactors,   of 


154  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

demi-angels,  if  not  of  demi-gods.  Women,  nur- 
tured by  the  same  suggestion,  fall  even  more 
easily  under  the  spell  of  their  gilded  charms. 
Wealth,  thus  flattered,  diffuses  in  its  turn  an 
intoxicating  fragrance.  Its  dazzling  light  con- 
ceals from  us  even  its  coarsest  blemishes.  In  its 
behalf,  we  forget  even  the  precepts  of  the  Deca- 
logue. It  purifies  robbery  and  murder.  The  magic 
of  the  million  renders  riches  invincible,  for  it 
crushes  all  resistance.  As  in  the  tale  of  the 
Chronicle  of  Nuremberg,  we  all  seem  dragged  along 
by  the  Dance  of  Death.  And,  like  those  impious 
men  and  women  of  Darmstadt,  we  are  all  engulfed 
in  the  abyss  which  we  open  by  our  wild  dance 
around  the  god  Million. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  gave  to  their  deities 
the  heads  of  animals.  Our  contemporaries  often 
bestow  upon  gold-covered  brutes  the  attributes 
of  divinity. 

XII.  Wealth  is  often  only  a  word.  There  are 
people  called  rich  who  occupy  toward  their  trea- 
sures the  same  position  that  a  French  beggar  holds 
in  regard  to  our  immense  national  fortune.  To 
enjoy  life,  the  first  necessity  is  to  live ;  to  be  rich, 
we  must  possess  wealth.  But  we  are  frequently 
the  slaves  of  wealth;  we  are  its  chattels,  but  the 
wealth  is  not  ours.     Few  are  the  men  who  domi- 


Among  tHe  Unfortunate  155 

nate  it,  who  dictate  to  it  their  laws,  their  orders, 
their  wishes,  in  short,  who  are  its  possessors. 

The  most  intelligent  among  them  frequently 
call  to  mind  the  magnificence  of  the  embalmed 
body  of  Saint  Charles  Borromeo.  According  to 
Ruskin,  the  saint  rests  in  the  transept  of  the  Milan 
cathedral.  He  holds  a  gold  crozier  and  bears 
upon  his  breast  an  emerald  cross  of  priceless  value. 
But  is  Saint  Borromeo  rich?  No,  we  shall  be 
answered,  for  a  dead  body  or  a  lifeless  soul  cannot 
possess  wealth.  How  many  are  the  rich  whose 
souls  are  dead,  and  whose  bodies  are  powerless 
to  enjoy  fortune! 

Xni.  The  evils  caused  by  the  worship  of 
Mammon  have  never  been  estimated,  perhaps 
because  they  are  incalculable.  In  this  deification 
of  wealth  we  are  deifying,  like  certain  Pagans, 
the  very  gods  who  load  us  with  their  woes. 
Through  both  worlds  a  general  complaint  of  the 
adulteration  of  foods  is  now  ringing.  Civilised 
nations  are  consuming  adulterated  products  and 
lavish  their  esteem  on  the  very  ones  that  impair 
their  health.  Through  the  monopoly  of  articles 
of  prime  necessity,  a  conspiracy  of  speculators 
is  striving  to  render  these  articles  less  accessible 
to  the  community.  We  feel  the  danger,  but  we 
do  not  cease  admiring  the  evil-doers. 


156  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Must  we  then  teach  contempt  for  wealth?  No. 
The  abolition  of  its  excessive  worship  will  suffice. 
We  should  save,  by  the  same  opportunity,  its 
numerous  disciples  and,  above  all,  its  innumerable 
victims.  The  latter  adore  and  love  it  solely  for 
itself.  They  waste  their  lives  in  imploring  its 
favours  and  end  with  having  sacrificed  everything 
to  it  without  often  obtaining  anything  in  return. 

If  wealth  were  a  deity  conscious,  in  its  cruelty, 
it  could  pursue  no  different  course.  It  takes  from 
its  followers  everything:  efforts,  time,  mind,  life, 
and  in  return  gives  to  them  only  immoderate  and 
insatiable  longings. 

Let  us  imagine  a  Utopian  school  in  which  the 
endeavour  would  be  to  imbue  young  minds,  not 
with  contempt  for  wealth,  but  a  sensible  compre- 
hension of  its  merits.  The  pupils  should  be  shown 
that  wealth  and  happiness,  as  well  as  fame,  great- 
ness of  soul,  or  worth,  are  rarely  found  on  the  same 
path,  and  it  should  then  be  proved  that  goodness, 
the  soul's  inestimable  treasure,  will  obtain  for  its 
possessor  a  happiness  that  wealth  is  not  in  a 
position  to  bestow.  The  pupils  should  also  be 
taught  that  true  wealth  lies  solely  in  spiritual 
independence.  This  renders  us  great  and  strong, 
and  it  is  the  only  fortune  which  raises  us  above 
other  men.     Once  obtained,  it  is  no  longer  subject 


-A.inoTig  tKe  Unfortunate  157 

to  the  vicissitudes  of  vulgar  wealth.  With  it,  we 
dominate  the  rich  and  are  dominated  by  no  one. 
Thanks  to  it,  we  can  satisfy  our  every  desire,  for, 
subjugated,  our  desires  remain  under  our  power. 
They  come  only  when  called  by  the  voice  of  the 
soul,  and  the  latter,  in  satisfying  them,  finds  a 
celestial  joy. 

Wealth  makes  us  descend  to  the  level  of  slaves. 
Never  does  it  satisfy  us.  Like  the  ocean,  it 
absorbs  everything  and  restores  nothing.  It 
creates  uneasiness,  dissatisfaction,  and  gives  to 
its  elect  an  unquenchable  thirst. 

Let  us  remain  always  in  Utopia.  Suppose  that 
parents,  in  furtherance  of  the  instruction  of  the 
teachers,  constantly  reiterate  the  same  ideas. 
Who  would  dare  to  doubt  that  the  young  human 
beings,  thus  transformed,  would  not  be  better 
able  to  resist  the  malign  influences  of  life?  The 
worship  of  wealth,  at  the  end  of  half  a  score  of 
generations  hardened  against  its  solvent  power, 
would  cease  to  corrupt  our  souls. 


HAPPINESS  FOR  ALL 

A, — Happiness  through  Goodness 

I.  If  a  conscious  principle  had  presided  over 
the  creation  of  man,  it  must  have  pursued  this 
course  of  reasoning: 

"The  feeble  creature  which,  in  developing,  will 
become  man,  will  be  exposed  to  every  peril.  He 
will  suffer  from  contact  with  his  fellow-creatures. 
Envy  and  wickedness  will  cause  him  numberless 
pangs.  In  the  struggle  for  life,  the  weak  will  be 
crushed  by  the  strong.  A  prey  to  constant  dis- 
couragements, man  will  lose  faith  in  the  future. 
He  will  need  a  companion  to  brighten  his  life  with 
the  softest  rays.  He  needs  a  warm  hearthstone 
to  vivify  his  depressed  mind.'* 

And  man  received,  on  this  occasion,  the  gift 
of  a  beneficent  power. 

The  tireless  partner  of  his  joys  and  of  his  sorrows, 

this  gift  never  abandons  him.     Child  and  adult, 

mature  or  aged  man,  all  profit  by  its  heavenly 

158 


Happiness  for  -A.11  159 

action.  Mankind  owes  to  it  the  better  portion  of 
its  past  and  of  its  present.  Everything  even 
leads  to  the  beHef  that  the  future  will  owe  it  still 
more  than  have  former  years.  Yet  we  have  never 
ceased  to  slander  its  deeds,  to  scoff  at  its  motives, 
to  ridicule  its  efforts.  It  should  have  left  man. 
Abandoning  him  to  his  fate  would  have  been  only 
an  act  of  justice.  But  it  preferred  to  remain  with 
him,  for  it  is  Goodness. 

11.  We  frequently  resemble  those  tribes  of 
Central  Africa  that  pride  themselves  upon  pos- 
sessing bits  of  broken  glass,  empty  bottles,  or 
articles  of  ordinary  hardware.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  set  no  value  on  priceless  pieces  of  ivory 
or  on  precious  stones. 

Accessible  to  all,  Goodness,  in  its  germ,  exists 
in  all  men.  Like  the  sun,  it  contains  an  inexhaust- 
ible energy.  Like  the  sun,  it  shines  for  the  entire 
world. 

It  bestows  royalty  upon  the  humblest  human 
being.  Set  in  action,  it  adorns  the  soul  in  which 
it  grows.  It  does  more ;  it  revives  all  by  whom  it 
is  obtained. 

When  goodness  takes  possession  of  a  heart,  it 
makes  it  a  queen  of  queens,  but  its  sovereignty 
is  discreet.  It  remains  hidden,  like  that  of  all  the 
best  rulers.     Yet  to  come  within  its  reach  is  enough 


i6o         THe  Science  of  Happiness 

to  make  us  feel  the  divine  mercy  which  pervades 
the  space  in  which  it  shines. 

In  the  midst  of  an  icy  night,  the  wearied  trav- 
eller perceives  a  simple  house.  The  light  from  its 
windows,  the  heat  that  comes  from  this  abode 
of  men,  fills  his  heart  with  delight.  A  sense  of 
comfort  enters  his  soul,  even  before  he  could  have 
approached  the  distant  dwelling. 

He  only  surmises  that  he  sees  before  him  the 
refuge  of  goodness,  and  a  joyous  hope  fills  his  heart. 

III.  Genius  visits  rare  beings.  Wealth  often 
chooses  its  elect  as  a  gold  coin  falls  imexpectedly 
on  a  dung-hill.  Birth  lavishes  its  privileges  with 
the  blindness  of  chance.  Goodness  alone  extends 
its  brotherly  arms  to  every  human  being.  It 
makes  no  distinction  between  the  lofty  and  the 
lowly,  between  religions,  sexes,  ages,  the  poor  or  the 
rich,  the  men  of  talent  or  of  genius.  All  may 
practise  its  worship.  The  most  destitute  or  the 
most  unfortunate  man  preserves  the  privilege 
of  being  good  and  of  exercising  goodness.  It 
holds  its  followers,  no  matter  whence  they  come, 
equally  dear. 

IV.  Miracle  of  miracles!  We  lavish  goodness 
outside,  and  it  increases  within  our  souls. 

Lodged  in  the  heart,  goodness  pervades  it 
entirely.     The  soul,  in  its  turn,  then  dispenses  a 


Happiness  for  A.11  i6i 

fragrance  of  rare  quality.  The  sight  of  goodness 
renders  faces  serene.  It  lavishes  strength  upon 
the  weak,  hope  on  the  despairing.  A  little  portion 
of  goodness,  like  the  bread  of  the  Gospel,  is  enough 
to  appease  the  hunger  of  a  multitude.  Acting 
like  Providence,  goodness  creates  much  from 
nothing.  The  rays  diffused  by  it,  in  returning  to 
their  source,  bear  the  sweetness  collected  along  the 
way.  Thus  we  create  blessing  around  us,  and 
fill  our  own  hearts  with  the  divine  essence. 

V.  Genius  needs  to  be  admired.  Talent  re- 
quires to  be  recognised.  Wealth  desires  to  be 
envied,  and  also  demands  homage,  the  only  token 
of  its  importance.  Goodness  exacts  nothing  from 
any  one,  finding  its  recompense  in  its  own  royalty. 

The  question:  "How  to  be  happy"  often  re- 
solves itself  into:  how  are  we  to  exercise  good- 
ness? Real  happiness  is  the  joy  brought  by  the 
benefit  on  returning  to  the  soul  of  the  benefactor. 

True  goodness  remains  conscious  of  itself.  As 
lightning,  however  swift  it  may  be,  contains 
heat,  the  most  spontaneous  act  of  goodness  bears 
portions  of  our  hearts.  This  is  its  natural  fire- 
side, and  also  the  spring  by  which  it  is  ennobled 
and  purified.  It  gives  it  the  sanction  of  its  own 
superiority. 

Goodness  which   remains   outside  of  our  con- 


i62  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

science  is  only  an  act  of  unreflecting  and  irra- 
tional weakness.  It  marks  the  disorder  and  not 
the  harmony  of  our  souls.  Like  a  well-regulated 
weapon,  goodness  does  not  flash  without  a  cause. 
Exercised  blindly,  it  may  create  some  benefit,  but 
its  action  also  produces  misfortune;  it  may  aid 
the  strong  against  the  weak ;  it  abases  the  humble 
and  passes  suffering  misery  with  indifference. 

Plutarch  relates  that  the  inhabitants  of  Asia 
Minor  were  reduced  to  slavery  for  the  sole  reason 
that  they  did  not  know  how  to  say:  No.  A  sad 
example  of  the  effects  of  goodness  through  weak- 
ness. Goodness  which  is  really  worthy  of  the 
name  is  always  sensible. 

VI.  We  say  innate  goodness,  but  it  is  chiefly 
acquired.  It  grows  and  perishes  in  our  consciences. 
Divine  in  its  beauty,  goodness  nevertheless  remains 
human.  It  would  be  necessary  to  introduce  it 
into  souls  where  it  is  lacking,  and  it  would  require 
developing  where  it  is  only  a  germ.  It  would 
need  directing  toward  worthy  subjects,  and  it 
would  also  need  to  be  turned  away  from  things 
which  would  make  it  lose  its  dignity.  A  course  of 
goodness  in  the  high  schools  for  the  practice  of 
youthful  minds!  The  idea  seems  paradoxical. 
The  paradox  is  often  only  a  truth  of  the  future. 
Let  us  wish  it  to  triumph.     Above  all,  let  us  wish 


Happiness  for  All  163 

that  it  may  find  enlightened  masters  working  for 
the  salvation,  through  goodness,  of  youthful  souls. 

A  Pestalozzi  of  goodness !  Perhaps  this  mysteri- 
ous being  is  growing  up  somewhere.  He  will  guide 
and  develop  childish  goodness  as  certain  wise 
instructors  understand  how  to  direct  toward 
beneficent  destinies  the  sons  of  sovereigns  who  are 
confided  to  their  charge. 

Some  day  courses  of  goodness  will  be  established, 
whose  lessons  will  have  attractive  foundations. 
Surrounded  by  irresistible  charms,  goodness  will 
lead  the  souls  of  children  through  flowery  paths. 
It  will  be,  perhaps,  the  most  charming  of  all  the 
sciences  of  youth,  and  it  will  also  be  the  most  use- 
ful to  its  happiness  and  to  that  of  the  community. 

Thanks  to  it,  the  pupil  would  follow  the  most 
delightful  paths  of  life.  When,  from  the  earliest 
childhood,  their  charms  have  been  demonstrated 
to  him,  he  will  desire  to  follow  them  in  later  years. 
He  will  seek  and  will  find  in  them  the  loftiest  rea- 
sons for  happiness.  Emulation  in  the  domain  of 
goodness  will  be  the  most  noble  and  the  most 
fruitful  of  rivalries. 

How  many  subjects  can  be  brought  into  these 
lectures  upon  goodness!  They  will  be  as  varied 
as  life  itself.  The  art  of  obliging  our  neighbour 
would  play  the  dominant  part,  but  how  many  are 


l64  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

the  imperceptible  shades  in  the  way  of  rendering 
service!  Gratitude,  in  its  turn,  presents  infinite 
aspects.  The  fetters  which  bind  men  together 
have  numerous  Hnks.  These  lectures  upon  good- 
ness would  bring  out  unity,  charm,  and  beauty. 
By  teaching  us  to  know  them,  this  section  of  the 
Science  of  Happiness  will  render  them  more  widely 
known  and  loved. 

VII.  Goodness  draws  after  it  love,  as  the  sun 
brings  fair  weather.  We  love  better  those  to 
whom  we  have  rendered  service,  and  we  render 
service  to  those  whom  we  love. 

Love  is  the  flower  that  blossoms  on  the  stem  of 
goodness.  These  two  virtues  penetrate  and  com- 
plete each  other.  Their  approach  warms  the  little 
nooks  and  corners  of  our  hearts.  Under  their  in- 
fluence the  evil  seeds  deposited  there  by  life  and 
heredity  are  transformed.  Both,  when  remaining 
a  long  time  in  any  soul,  render  it  capable  of  sacri- 
fice, for  what  is  sacrifice,  except  the  expression  of 
goodness  and  love? 

Closely  united  sisters,  goodness  and  affection 
accompany  each  other.  Both  form  one  of  the 
necessary  conditions  of  happiness,  which  is  en- 
nobled and  broadened  by  their  contact.  They 
might  be  compared  to  two  careful  gardeners,  who, 
like  watchful  keepers,  drive  away  any  mischievous 


Happiness  for  All  165 

birds  from  the  precincts  of  our  hearts,  thus  aiding 
in  their  complete  development. 

We  often  encounter  a  happiness  of  vulgar  essence 
which  can  dispense  with  their  co-operation.  We 
also  find  brambles  and  nettles  which  grow  with- 
out any  care.  But  where  is  the  man  who  would 
not  prefer  the  pretty  flowers  which  ensnare  our 
senses? 

Goodness!  Love!  Happiness!  delightful  trin- 
ity !  Once  realised,  it  never  leaves  the  heart.  The 
three  entities  composing  it  are  interlinked  with 
perfect  art.  One  summons  the  other,  and  all 
three  mutually  support  one  another. 

VIII.  In  every  age,  Love  has  enjoyed  royal 
homage.  The  mystics  erect  altars  to  it,  and  the 
sociologists  see  in  it  one  of  the  bases  of  solidarity. 

Highly  esteemed,  it  is  nevertheless  Httle  prac- 
tised. We  respect  it  as  we  do  certain  divinities. 
We  bow  while  uttering  their  names,  but  we  turn 
aside  from  their  precepts. 

Philosophers,  scientists,  sociologists,  priests,  or 
politicians,  men  of  thought  or  men  of  action,  all 
laud  the  benefits  of  love. 

Catherine  of  Sienna  has  perhaps  best  summed  up 
the  virtue  of  loving.  In  her  letter  to  the  Lord  of 
Milan,  she  says:  *'Love,  love,  and  remember  that 
you  have  been  loved  before  loving.'" 


l66  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

Entirely  from  the  Gospel,  Saint  Augustine  has 
drawn  the  conclusion  of  the  unconquerable  plea- 
sure obtained  for  us  by  love.  *'  We  love  to  love, " 
he  cried  in  his  expressive  language.  Amabam 
amare.  But  Saint  Augustine  lived  in  his  dreams, 
and  took  his  visions  for  realities. 

No,  we  do  not  love  to  love,  for  we  lack  education 
in  loving.  People  have  preached  the  duty  of 
loving,  but  they  have  forgotten  to  teach  us  its 
moral  advantages,  and  especially  its  repercussion 
upon  happiness. 

For  to  love  means  to  live  a  multiple  life.  We 
come  out  of  otuselves,  but  we  return  far  richer 
than  at  the  moment  of  departure.  We  re-enter 
our  souls  accompanied  by  delightful  companions. 
The  kindly  affections  on  returning  to  our  hearts, 
constitute  a  royal  procession.  Our  ego  is  multi- 
plied, holds  to  existence  with  more  ties,  and 
existence  is  more  closely  united  to  us. 

There  are  affections  which  betray.  What  does 
that  matter!  Others  come  to  replace  these,  for 
the  heart,  the  hearthstone  of  love,  attracts  the 
affections  as  the  hive  attracts  the  bees.  We  are 
never  victims  of  love  and  goodness,  for  no  one  can 
deprive  us  of  the  pleasure  of  having  been  good  or  of 
having  loved. 

IX.     We  develop  toward  goodness,  as  we  de- 


Happiness  for  All  167 

velop  toward  veracity.  By  a  singular  mirage,  we 
believe  the  contrary.  We  are  almost  all  con- 
vinced that  the  primitive  peoples  were  more 
refractory  to  falsehood,  and  more  devoted  to 
goodness. 

And  yet  the  history  of  falsehood  through  the 
ages  constantly  denies  this  belief.  Above  all, 
it  proves  that  the  legendary  virtue  of  the  idylHc 
days  is  hut  a  legend. 

Primitive  or  savage  peoples,  warlike  or  nomad 
tribes,  have  always  had  a  marked  partiality  for 
deceit.  The  Greeks,  whom  we  like  to  regard  as 
the  ideal  type  of  the  nations,  had  a  very  mitigated 
respect  for  sincerity.  The  gods  deceive  men  and, 
moreover,  deceive  one  another.  The  principal 
heroes  of  Homer  lie  like  the  financial  prospectuses 
of  our  own  times.  The  wise  Ulysses  is  an  incor- 
rigible teller  of  falsehoods.  Pallas  Athena  gives 
us  to  understand  that  she  loves  him  for  that  very 
reason.  The  other  deities  practise  the  same  lax 
morality.  Oaths  are  violated  with  extraordinary 
indifference.  Men  set  little  value  on  honesty,  for 
the  gods  themselves  favour  liars. 

The  Gospels,  doubtless  under  the  influence  of 
the  period,  have  not  broken  away  from  falsehood. 
In  Genesis,  the  Lord  reserves  a  wealth  of  indulgence 
for    the   lie    of    Isaac.     In    Kings,    Jehovah    has 


i68  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

recourse  to  a  false  spirit  to  ruin  Achab.  Else- 
where God  {Ezekiel)  ingenuously  confesses  that 
he  is  going  to  deceive  the  prophets  who  are  not 
according  to  his  heart. 

Lastly,  what  shall  be  said  of  Jeremiah,  who 
openly  turns  his  back  upon  the  truth? 

Later  Saint  Paul  makes  a  confession  which 
disconcerts  us.  God,  he  tells  us,  has  drawn  glory 
from  falsehood. 

The  governments  of  the  Middle  Ages  often 
maintained  themselves  by  falsehood.  According 
to  Salvien,  the  Franks  regarded  perjury  as  a  mere 
oratorical  form.  Diplomatic  science,  up  to  these 
latter  days,  sought  its  powers  and  its  abilities 
solely  in  stratagem. 

The  progress  which  is  denied  nevertheless  lowered, 
with  the  lapse  of  the  ages,  the  reign  of  falsehood,  even 
compelling  mendacity  to  apologise  to  truth,  which  is 
gradually  spreading  more  and  more  into  the  rela- 
tions between  nation  and  nation.  Scorned,  false- 
hood shrinks  and  even  denies  that  it  is  falsehood. 

The  famous  despatch  of  Ems,  in  which  a  diplo- 
mat of  the  fifteenth  or  the  sixteenth  century 
would  have  gloried,  made  the  blood  mount  to  the 
brow  of  a  Bismarck.  Was  not  the  effort  to  mask 
the  lie  put  forth  on  this  occasion  a  sublime  homage 
to  honesty? 


Happiness  for  All  169 

Truth,  more  and  more  triumphant,  draws  in 
her  train  goodness.  Both  complete,  and  harmon- 
ise with,  each  other,  as  cunning  and  falsehood 
complete  each  other  in  wickedness.  Social  truth 
is  only  social  goodness.  The  noblest  of  Homer's 
heroes  does  not  give  proof  of  as  much  provident 
kindness  with  respect  to  the  aged  as  does  the 
social  aggregate  of  our  own  day.  But  individual 
and  social  goodness  are  mutually  interlinked.  One 
is  immediate  goodness ;  the  other  is  goodness  at  a 
distance.  Both  are  translated  in  concrete  acts. 
Both,  thanks  to  their  reciprocal  support,  grow 
equally  in  the  atmosphere  of  truth. 

X.  Affection  renders  the  poorest  human  beings 
the  equal  of  sovereigns.  It  assures  us  boundless 
power.  We  can  love,  even  against  the  will  of  the 
object  of  our  affection.  The  pleasure  of  loving, 
as  well  as  its  benefits,  lies  within  ourselves.  No  one 
can  deprive  us  of  them  for,  inalienable,  they  are 
hidden  in  the  depths  of  our  individuality. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  judge  of  the  quality  of 
wines  without  having  tasted  them.  Who  is  the 
person  who  has  practised  goodness  sufficiently 
to  appreciate  all  its  advantages  and  all  its  charms? 

Goodness  and  love  furnish  the  most  efficacious 
remedies  for  the  troubles  of  life.  They  breathe 
upon  pess'mism  and  disenchantment,  and  trans- 


170  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

form  the  latter  into  reasons  for  existence.  Now, 
the  reason  for  existence  is  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 
Sully  Prudhomme  was  a  man  devoted  to  good- 
ness. Ill  for  twenty  years,  and  a  prey  to  super- 
human sufferings,  he  retained  a  touching  sweetness 
of  disposition.  Pain  furrowed  deep  lines  in  his 
face.  Yet  his  gaze,  reflecting  the  treasures  of 
his  soul,  triumphed  over  all  his  bodily  weaknesses. 
His  eyes  smiled.  The  great  poet,  who  honoured 
me  with  his  friendship,  often  talked  of  the  vivify- 
ing power  of  Goodness.  He  spoke  openly,  lov- 
ingly, of  the  principle,  while  secretly  and  constantly 
cultivating  its  virtues.  And  as  he  had  practised  it, 
without  discernment,  toward  all  who  approached 
him,  he  was  frequently  victimized.  He  had 
encoimtered  both  the  wicked  and  the  ungrateful. 
But  he  felt  kindly  toward  all  for  having  con- 
tributed to  his  supreme  enjoyment.  He  was 
so  imbued  with  goodness  that  he  beheld  it  every- 
where, and  it  became  to  him  Duty  and  Beauty. 
To  scatter  around  him  the  treasures  of  his  soul, 
without  hope  of  heavenly  reward  or  of  earthly 
gratitude,  became  a  divine  joy.  Goodness  had 
become  to  him  almost  a  luxury.  The  delights 
it  had  procured  had  set  a  heavenly  impress  upon 
his  countenance,  so  ravaged  by  suffering.  One 
day  the  poet  was  found  dead,  wearing  the  expres- 


Happiness  for  All  171 

sion  of  happiness  peculiar  to  a  man  going  forth 
under  the  guidance  of  Goodness. 

Goodness  implies  consciousness  of  the  necessity 
of  practising  goodness;  love,  the  imparting  of 
this  goodness  to  some  one.  Thus  we  proceed 
toward  action.  The  imperious  voice  which  en- 
joins goodness  and  love  impels  us  toward  the  life 
which  it  fills  and  adorns  for  our  use.  Love  and 
be  good,  ought  to  be  enjoined  upon  the  pessimists, 
and  you  will  come  to  your  senses  after  a  time. 

XI.  Science  and  modem  life  preach  powerfully 
regarding  the  benefits  of  goodness,  the  sociological 
virtues  of  love. 

The  salvation  of  the  wealthy  classes  lies  in  a 
rightly  understood  solidarity.  The  prosperity  of 
the  poor  is  found  in  a  rational  development  of  the 
State.  There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  orders 
dictated  by  vaguely  reHgious  feeHngs.  Their 
principles,  wearied  by  long  practice,  no  longer 
act.  It  is  our  thoroughly  comprehended  hap- 
piness which  preaches  and  directs  the  exercise, 
on  a  large  scale,  of  goodness  and  social  love. 

Universal  warfare,  we  may  hope,  will  some  day 
be  replaced  by  universal  love.  Humanity  is 
moving  toward  it,  very  slowly,  no  doubt,  but  it  is 
infallibly  moving  in  that  direction. 

All  the  systems  of  contemporary  morality  find 


172  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

their  definite  expression  in  the  principle  of  Good- 
ness, which,  among  other  things,  includes  solidarity 
and  human  perfectibility.  Outside  of  the  ideal 
of  goodness,  Fouillee  says'  we  find  only  poor 
diminutives  or  succedaneums  of  morality.  And 
the  same  philosopher  deduces  from  it  this  precept 
of  morality  that  is  independent  of  time  and  envi- 
ronment :  "Be  good,  with  a  view  to  universal  good- 
ness, which  would  constitute  universal  happiness." 

Vainly  do  we  scoff  at  goodness  as  the  indis- 
pensable foundation  of  moral  progress  and  the 
salvation  of  human  beings.  It  is  constantly  en- 
larging and  developing.  It  is  increasing  before 
our  eyes,  as  it  has  grown  through  the  centuries. 
Only,  invisible,  it  is  seen  solely  through  goodness 
itself.  We  must  be  good  to  perceive  its  develop- 
ment and  its  blessings,  as  we  must  believe  in  God 
to  see  His  activity  on  earth. 

XII.  Have  we  become  better?  is  asked  on  all 
sides.  Like  rehgions,  the  social  sciences  give  a 
negative  answer.  The  religions  and  the  sciences 
are  equally  mistaken.  While  the  former  wrongly 
identify  pity  or  credulity  with  goodness,  the  latter 
suffer  themselves  to  be  influenced  too  greatly  by 
the  deceptive  statistics  of  crime.  We  may  observe, 
per  contra y  the  rising  edifice  of  solidarity,  which  is 

'  Morale  des  idees  forces. 


Happiness  for  All  I73 

chiefly  constructed  by  the  efforts  of  loving  and 
beloved  collectivity.  Everywhere  the  same  cry 
is  raised :  let  us  make  sacrifices  for  a  happier  and 
better  humanity.  The  number  of  those  who  die 
for  this  cause  is  constantly  augmenting.  And 
these  martyrs  are  devoting  themselves,  not  in  the 
selfish  interest  of  a  heavenly  reward,  but  in  the 
name  of  the  impersonal  principle  of  the  human 
race  of  the  future. 

The  physicians  who  brave  death  to  enrich  science 
with  an  undiscovered  microbe ;  the  aeronauts  who 
expose  themselves  to  the  most  terrible  accidents; 
the  revolutionists  who  give  their  lives  for  the 
Society  of  the  future;  the  workmen  who,  without 
any  immediate  necessity,  join  in  the  strike,  are 
all  labouring,  in  the  main,  solely  for  the  benefit  of 
generations  which  perhaps  will  exist  only  in  their 
imagination.  And  what  is  this  soHdarity,  which 
produces  the  greatest  sacrifices,  if  not  ideal  good- 
ness, intense  goodness,  emancipated  from  the 
narrow  bonds  of  the  unity  of  blood  or  of  visible 
interests?  Of  what  value  are  the  patriotism  and 
the  virtue,  often  purely  theatrical,  of  the  great 
heroes  of  Greece,  almost  always  fighting  for  the 
spectators,  in  comparison  with  the  martyrs  of 
the  Russian  revolution,  who  died  in  obscurity  for 
the  citizenship  of  the  future?     The  goodness  that 


174  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

animates  the  latter  is  of  a  superior  essence.  Their 
death,  we  are  told,  is  often  barren.  What  does 
that  matter?  The  uselessness  of  the  sacrifice 
does  not  take  an  iota  from  its  divine  virtue. 

Social  institutions  tend  more  and  more  to  dim- 
inish the  wretchedness  of  the  humiliated.  They 
also  tend  to  sow  upon  earth  the  happiness  of  all 
through  all.  Goodness  takes  possession  of  human 
beings.  Conscious  in  some,  instinctive  in  others, 
it  acts  under  all  circumstances.  Rich  or  poor  apply 
its  principles  under  the  form  of  forced  taxes  or  vol- 
untary contributions.  Its  results  tend  to  render 
earth  more  attractive  and  men  perfect.  Good- 
ness has  ascended  in  rank.  It  is  more  complex 
and,  for  that  very  reason,  more  unheeded.  Under 
the  form  of  weakness  of  the  soul  or  of  instinctive 
emotions,  we  should  be  softened.  Classified  and 
in  the  position  of  a  social  duty,  it  remains  indis- 
cernible. This  does  not  prevent  it  from  growing. 
The  day  is  not  distant  when  it  will  be  understood 
that  the  best  human  being  is  the  one  who  does 
the  most  good  to  his  community. 

XIII.  The  teacher  of  my  childhood,  with  whom 
I  enjoy  examining  human  affairs,  laid  his  spectacles 
carefully  on  his  desk,  smiled  pleasantly  at  me  and 
continued : 

"The  boat  which  was  taking  us  toward  the  Cape 


Happiness  for  All  175 

of  Good  Hope  touched  at  a  little  island.  While 
the  vessel  was  being  unloaded  I  went  ashore.  The 
pleasant  appearance  of  the  country  charmed  me. 
The  inhabitants  we  met  on  the  way  manifested  a 
fraternal  friendliness  in  their  greetings,  a  touch  of 
tenderness  in  their  gaze.  Every  one  welcomed 
the  stranger  with  a  kindly  word.  At  last  I  stopped 
in  front  of  a  house  where  the  prominent  people 
in  the  village  were  assembled.  Their  conversation 
ceased  for  a  moment.  An  old  man  welcomed  me. 
I  expressed  my  delight  at  finding  myself  among 
people  who  were  contented  with  their  lot." 

The  old  man  nodded  assent: 

"You  may  add,"  he  said,  "and  very  happy! 
We  have  lived  thus  for  years  imder  the  reign  of  a 
good  sovereign  whom  we  all  worship.  We  owe  to 
him  the  joy  that  fills  our  souls,  for  we  owe  to  him 
the  affection  that  colours  our  lives,  the  goodwill  of 
our  relations.  Ah !  great  heavens !  Why  should  n't 
we  love  him?  He  has  destroyed  envy  among  us. 
He  has  revealed  to  us  the  resources  within  our- 
selves. He  has  also  taught  us  that  love  is  the 
source  of  joys  which  fortune  cannot  purchase. 
We  are  happy  without  thinking  of  our  happiness. 
Envy  has  no  hold  upon  us.  We  are  not  bound  to  it 
and  it  does  not  dwell  in  our  hearts.  You  will  find 
among  us  neither  false  luxury,  nor  the  desire  to 


176  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

lord  it  over  our  neighbours.  And  the  longer  we 
live  under  this  monarch's  government,  the  more  we 
adore,  love,  and  practise  his  laws." 

"What  is  the  name  of  this  sovereign?"  I  asked 
in  delight. 

"Goodness,"  replied  the  kind  old  man. 

B, — The  Affections  as  Sources  of  Happiness 
I.— The  Family 

I.     However  dispossessed  our  life  may  be,  there 

are  always  a  few  sweet  bonds  which  unite  us  to 
our  environment,  bonds  which  are  unforgettable 
and  inestimable.  They  enlarge  our  "ego. "  They 
relate  it  to  the  existence  of  others  and  prompt  it  to 
share  their  joys  and  sorrows.  Family  life  doubt- 
less creates,  with  its  joys,  certain  duties.  The 
source  of  varied  delights,  it  is  often  a  source 
of  annoyances,  disappointments,  sorrows.  But 
when  we  compare  what  we  owe  to  it,  and  what  it 
has  cost  us,  we  readily  understand  that  it  is  one 
of  the  greatest  trumps  in  the  struggle  for  happiness. 
It  shields  us  with  its  benevolent  protection, 
when,  very  young,  we  enter  life  defenceless.  It 
rouses  our  courage  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
It  sustains  us  in  our  misfortunes,  and  facilitates 


Happiness  for  All  177 

the  accomplishment  of  our  duty  in  living.  The 
family  also  furnishes  the  first  lesson  in  solidarity 
and  sociabiHty.  The  affection  and  indulgence 
which  serve  as  its  foundations  transform  and 
maintain  our  ''ego"  in  the  world  of  men,  that 
enlargement  of  the  family  group. 

To  family  joys  are  opposed  the  fetters  that 
weigh  down  existence.  A  family,  it  is  said,  is 
often  only  a  group  of  members  whose  interests  are 
frequently  opposed.  Escape,  always  difficult, 
often  becomes  even  impossible.  The  obstacles  to 
divorce  bind  the  wife  to  the  husband  for  life.  The 
privileges  granted  even  to  unworthy  parents 
often  prevent  their  children  from  emancipating 
themselves  from  their  guardianship  before  attain- 
ing majority.  The  father  often  finds  himself 
compelled  to  toil  for  a  bad  wife.  .He  must  support 
children  who  bring  him  sorrow.  Fathers  suffer 
through  their  sons ;  daughters  suffer  through  their 
mothers.  These  examples  might  be  multiplied. 
We  Hnger  to  look  at  these  shadows,  but  suddenly 
a  ray  of  simshine  from  the  paradise  of  family  life 
makes  them  vanish.  Nothing  under  the  sun  is 
perfect.  In  deeds  of  goodness  we  find  traces  of 
evil,  as  in  a  soul  succumbing  to  sins  we  discover 
some  misimderstood  virtues.  But  the  abode  of 
the  just  remains  good,  in  spite  of  the  weaknesses 


178  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

displayed.  The  same  is  true  of  family  life.  By 
the  side  of  its  victims,  humanity  in  the  mass  seeks 
and  finds  in  it  treasures  of  felicity. 

And  precisely  because  humanity  grasps  more  and 
more  the  beneficent  virtues  of  family  life,  it  is 
striving  to  perfect  the  family.  Under  every  lati- 
tude the  same  cry  is  heard:  let  us  improve  the 
family  organisation. 

Marriage  is  being  reformed.  We  are  endeavour- 
ing to  perfect  the  relations  between  parents  and 
children,  and  to  establish  ever  stronger  fraternal 
bonds  between  all  the  members  of  the  family  by 
introducing  equality  and  liberty.  Where  poverty 
might  have  destroyed  family  affection,  the  govern- 
ment intervenes.  It  takes  the  sick  and  the  aged 
under  its  charge;  it  comes  to  the  aid  of  large 
families,  and  extends  its  protection  to  over- 
numerous  children.  No  matter  how  opposite 
the  various  systems  of  government  may  be,  mon- 
archies, autocracies,  and  democracies  rival  one 
another  in  zeal  when  the  object  in  view  is  to  create 
funds  for  old  age,  sickness,  or  free  education. 

II.  When  mutual  sympathy  and  love  have 
replaced  money  and  social  advantages  as  the 
principal  foundations  of  the  marriage  institution, 
when  parents  profit  by  the  conquests  of  child- 
psychology,  when  the  little  ones  are  reared  in  the 


Happiness  for  A.11  I79 

sanctuary  of  love  that  the  family  of  the  future  will 
become,  the  vexations  incidental  to  the  family  will 
diminish.  For,  in  family  life,  as  well  as  in  so  many 
of  the  domains  of  our  social  activity,  men  are 
making  the  greatest  efforts  to  have  the  right  to 
misfortune.  For  instance,  we  feed  children  for 
years  on  falsehoods,  and  then  require  them  to  be 
upright  men. 

How  charming  is  the  exclamation  of  Montaigne : 
"There  is  nothing  so  sweet  as  Httle  French  chil- 
dren; but  they  usually  disappoint  our  hopes."  And 
the  great  moralist,  having  raised  the  question, 
answers  it  with  delicious  ingenuity :  ''I  have  heard 
people  of  good  judgment  say  that  the  schools  to 
which  they  are  sent,  which  are  numerous,  exert 
this  brutalising  influence."  Already!  Yet  we 
are  understanding  more  and  more  that  children 
have  the  same  right  to  truth  that  their  fathers 
have  to  liberty  and  equality.  The  joys  which 
children  obtain  at  the  fireside  we  are  striving  to 
turn  to  the  advantage  of  all  the  social  structure. 
For  the  child  is  the  incarnation  of  happiness. 
It  proclaims  and  bestows  this  gift.  ''It  is  joy 
wandering  among  us,"  as  Victor  Hugo  says.  A 
child  is  the  augmentation  of  the  Hfe  of  the  parents. 
It  enlarges  our  present  and  extends  our  future. 

Children,  in  addition  to  being  the  happiness  of 


i8o         XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

their  parents,  also  constitute  the  power  of  the 
State.  Many  nations  have  perished  through  the 
diminution  of  the  birth-rate.  The  active  competi- 
tion of  modern  governments,  and  especially  their 
exaggerated  mihtarism,  render  this  problem  more 
serious  than  ever  to  all  peoples  concerned  for  the 
future.  Yet  it  has  been  noted  that  the  birth-rate 
is  in  inverse  proportion  to  culture.  Within  the 
frontiers  of  a  country,  the  most  ignorant  and  the 
poorest  inhabitants,  especially  those  who  are 
affected  by  alcohol,  multiply  most  rapidly.  The 
intellectual  citizens,  on  the  other  hand,  have  few 
children.  These  are  undoubtedly  carefully  ob- 
served facts,  but  they  are  not  inevitable  laws. 
Science  has  not  proved  that  intellectual,  sober,  or 
provident  persons  possess  an  inferior  reproductive 
power.  On  the  other  hand,  when  we  consider  the 
reproductive  force  of  man,  who  could  give  life  to 
ten  thousand  individuals,  while  he  is  asked  to  offer 
the  community  only  three  or  four,  we  perceive  that 
the  diminution  of  the  birth-rate  is  intentional.  A 
normal  woman  can  give  birth  to  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  children  without  impairing  her  health.  We 
should  not  forget,  moreover,  that  "the  sane  and 
normal  energy  of  women  aspires  to  people  the 
earth,"  according  to  the  picturesque  statement  of 
Ellen  Key.    Then  what  is  the  cause  or  what  are  the 


Happiness  for  All  i8i 

causes  of  the  diminution  of  the  birth-rate,  so  much 
to  be  regretted  from  the  standpoint  of  the  happi- 
ness of  the  family  and  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
State? 

Sometimes  the  man,  sometimes  the  woman, 
sometimes  both,  refuse  to  perform  this  duty  on 
which  their  happiness  frequently  depends.  The 
motives  are  various.  In  making  laws  for  the 
woman  and  the  child,  the  modern  government 
has  forgotten  the  fate  of  the  parents.  The  child 
and  the  woman  were  formerly  sotuces  of  income 
to  the  father. of  the  family.  Now,  thanks  to  the 
laws  limiting  and  regulating  their  labour,  they  are 
often  a  burden  upon  him.  No  doubt  the  child 
and  the  woman  will  never  be  sufficiently  protected, 
but  we  must  also  think  of  the  man  who  bears  the 
expenses  of  these  beneficent  laws.  A  series  of 
laws  are  imposed  in  favour  of  fathers  of  large 
families.  Reduction  of  taxes,  freedom  from  mili- 
tary service,  pecuniary  assistance,  free  schools 
and  clothing,  pensions  granted  to  mothers  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  their  children,  and  a 
thousand  other  means  must,  and  doubtless  will, 
be  utiHsed  in  order  to  create  a  premium  on  large 
families. 

Mothers  fulfil  a  social  function  more  advan- 
tageous than  that  of  many  officials.     The  rewards 


l82  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

and  encouragements  which  should  be  lavished 
upon  them  should  be  regarded  only  as  acts  of 
justice  and  honesty  toward  beings  whose  burdens 
enable  the  State  to  realise  its  objects.  An 
opposite  policy  should  be  applied  to  the  rich. 
Taxes  on  inheritance  should  remove  all  sorts  of 
privileges  from  an  only  child.  The  government 
will  be  able  to  take  as  an  average  the  family  of 
four  children,  and  levy  the  same  tax  of  succession 
on  all  families. 

These  measures  are  conceivable  only  in  countries 
like  France,  where  the  diminution  of  the  popula- 
tion threatens  to  extinguish  the  vital  forces  of  the 
nation. 

Reformed  fiscal  policy  will  thus  allow  the 
amelioration  of  family  life. 

III.  From  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  social 
scale,  there  is  to-day  an  outcry  in  which  all  join: 
let  us  make  family  life  happier.  The  progress  of 
ideas  and  of  family  life  has  doubtless  made  many 
of  its  foundations  unstable.  In  our  desire  to  per- 
fect and  improve  everything,  we  have  broken  some 
of  the  over-rusty  springs.  But,  while  discarding 
the  principles  that  would  have  destroyed  family 
life,  we  have  not  yet  introduced  all  those  which 
will  make  it  live.  Yet  a  scrutiny  of  the  social 
horizon  enables  one  to  perceive  messengers  who 


Happiness  for  -A.11  183 

are  the  bearers  of  good  news.  Never,  in  any 
period,  has  so  much  soHcitude  been  shown  for  the 
future  of  the  family.  From  every  direction  comes 
the  appeal  for  union  and  happiness  through  this 
source.  Even  those  who  are  accused  of  wishing 
to  destroy  it,  are  really  only  supporting  another  way 
of  salvation.  They  would  like  to  replace  the  auto- 
cracy of  the  father,  based  upon  the  respect  imposed, 
by  a  union  based  upon  love.  They  desire  to  have 
taken  into  the  account  respect  for  the  human 
personality  of  all  the  members  of  the  family  group. 

How  numerous  are  the  opposing  interests! 
But  let  us  hope  that  they  may  be  reconciled. 
A  day  will  come  when  the  contradictions  which 
exist  between  the  interests  of  the  family  and  those 
of  the  government  will  be  allayed  by  the  ennoble- 
ment of  character.  The  crisis  through  which 
family  life  is  passing  does  not  render  its  destruction 
inevitable.  Quite  the  contrary.  It  is  the  best 
proof  of  the  extreme  interest  which  modem  society 
attaches  to  the  smallest  details  of  this  complex 
and  vital  problem. 

No,  the  family  is  not  dying,  but  developing. 
In  a  forest,  at  the  time  when  trees  are  pruned, 
the  branches  which  lie  on  the  ground  give  us  the 
impression  of  endless  disorder.  But  when  the 
dead  branches  have  been  picked  up,  we  see  after 


184  TKe  Science  of  liappiness 

a  little  these  trees  resuming  their  life  with  fresh 
youth  and  vigour. 

11. — Friendship,  Native  Country,  Humanity 

I.     The  feeling   of  friendship   makes   us  grow 
morally.     Love,  under  all  its  forms,  renders  us 
better.     The  heart   is   ennobled   in  the  yearning 
toward  others.     It  might   be   said   that  it  grows 
in  proportion  as   love   or   friendship   brings  into 
it    new   objects    of    endearment.      The    more    a 
heart  is   elevated,  the   better   it   feels   the  reflex 
of   the   services    rendered,    the    affection    poured 
forth    outside.     Crabbed   minds    hke    to    diffuse 
poison    into    the    noble    joys    of    friendship    and 
love.     To  these  feehngs   of  rare  essence  are  op- 
posed commonplace  friendships  with  their  train 
of     treacheries.     We     speak    of    feelings    being 
exploited,   of   feehngs   being  feigned.      We  even 
utter  the  word  dupe,  so  harsh  to  our  self-love. 
All  these  recriminations  rest  upon  a  false  basis. 
We  forget  to   bring   into  these  calculations  the 
value  of  the  joys  experienced.     In  friendship,  as 
well  as  in  love,  the  question  of  real  importance  is 
the  j  oy  we  have  derived  from  the  f eelin  g .     We  have 
been  betrayed.     What  does  that  matter!     No  one 
can  deprive  us  of  the  emotions  we  have  enjoyed. 
The  past  is  ours.     It  cannot  be  torn  from  our  souls. 


Happiness  for  All  185 

Services  rendered  have  never  been  paid  by 
reciprocity!  But  we  forget  the  pleasure  experi- 
enced at  the  moment  when  it  was  possible  for  us 
to  oblige  the  sister-soul.  That  is  the  supreme 
reward  of  the  act. 

II.  The  ancients  took  into  account  the  import- 
ance of  friendship  for  the  better  operation  of  the 
government.  According  to  Aristotle,  friendship 
is  even  superior  to  justice  for,  "suppose,"  he 
tells  us,  ''that  men  are  united  by  friendship,  there 
would  be  no  need  of  justice ;  but  supposing  them  to 
be  just,  there  would  still  be  need  of  friendship." 
According  to  Horace,  nothing  is  comparable, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  sage,  to  an  agreeable  friend. 
''Even  the  shadow  of  a  friend,"  Menander  sang, 
"renders  man  happy. " 

Montaigne,  whose  friendship  for  La  Boetie  was 
most  touching,  cries,  in  speaking  of  the  man  who 
was  dearer  to  him  than  his  glory  and  his  life: 
"I  would  certainly  have  more  wilHngly  trusted 
myself  to  him  than  to  myself." 

Montaigne  also  relates  this  pretty  anecdote  of 
classical  friendship : 

Eudamidas,  a  Corinthian,  had  two  friends,  Charix- 
enus  and  Areteus.  On  his  death -bed,  being  poor, 
Eudamidas  made  his  will  thus: 

"I  bequeath  to  Areteus   to  feed   and  support  my 


i86  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

mother  in  her  old  age ;  to  Charixenus  to  arrange  my 
daughter's  marriage  and  to  give  her  a  dowry  as  large 
as  he  can  furnish,  and  in  case  either  of  the  two  should 
die,  I  put  in  his  place  the  survivor." 

One  of  the  two  men  having  died,  Areteus 
fulfilled  the  legacy  of  his  deceased  friend. 

III.  Coarse  calculation,  having  become  the 
basis  of  our  actions,  excluded  through  its  establish- 
ment the  highest  joys.  The  deceptions  which 
followed  are  all  the  more  painful  because  we  are 
the  principal  culprits.  We  have  made  a  sacrifice  of 
money  or  of  troublesome  deeds  with  a  view  to 
another  service  which  was  not  rendered.  It  is 
as  if  we  had  purchased  a  security  on  the  stock 
exchange  with  the  expectation  of  a  speedy  rise. 
The  advance  did  not  take  place.  The  business 
itself  failed.  The  blundering  speculator  has  only 
himself  to  blame.  But  what  connection  is  there 
between  this  unsuccessful  operation  and  the  friend- 
ship or  love  which  seek  and  find  the  profit  in 
their  own  existence?  They  realise  both  their 
capital  and  the  interests  of  their  acts  a  hundred- 
fold in  the  very  moment  when  they  perform  these. 

Such  is  the  situation  of  the  parents,  friends, 
husbands  and  wives,  children,  lovers,  with  regard 
to  the  services  rendered  to  the  beings  who  were  or 
are  dear  to  their  hearts. 


Happiness  for  A.11  187 

The  disappointments  caused  by  friendship  or 
any  other  crushed  affection  are  doubtless  painful, 
but  we  forget  the  deHghts  experienced  during  the 
continuance  of  the  tie. 

IV.  The  admiration  which  we  lavish  on  our 
neighbours  is  also  a  source  of  higher  pleasures. 
There  is  something  infinitely  sweet  in  the  flight 
of  this  feeling,  rising  toward  beings  whom  we 
believe  to  be  our  superiors.  We  then  live  a  double 
existence,  above  all,  we  live  a  higher  life,  wh  ch 
bears  us  toward  the  summits  of  the  ideal.  One 
might  almost  speak  of  the  delight  of  admiration. 
Happy  are  those  who  can  maintain  admiration 
in  all  its  fulness.  Those  who  thus  feel  it  are  often 
more  to  be  envied  than  its  beneficiaries.  Yet  a  day 
may  come  when  our  admiration  vanishes.  We  have 
bestowed  it  upon  those  who  are  unworthy.  Let 
us  console  ourselves.  No  one  can  deprive  us  of 
the  benefit  of  having  admired,  as  no  one  can  de- 
prive us  of  the  joys  stored  in  the  depths  of  our 
souls. 

V.  The  native  country  is  only  the  enlargement 
of  the  family.  The  quality  which  gives  to  man  a 
privileged  position  is  precisely  this  faculty  of 
going  out  of  himself,  of  passing  beyond  his  own 
narrow  life  to  project  it  toward,  and  to  mingle  it 
with,  the  life  of  others.     Kind  nature  has  sur- 


l88  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

rounded  the  exercise  of  this  privilege  with  all  her 
cares.  It  is  sweet  to  be  loved,  but  it  is  also  neces- 
sary to  love.  Man  cannot  live  isolated.  Com- 
pelled to  lean  upon  others,  he  finds  in  this  support 
the  charm  and  the  foundation  of  his  own  existence. 
What  the  family  is  to  the  child,  the  native  country 
afterward  becomes  to  the  man.  It  is  through 
the  love  we  feel  for  our  native  land  that  we  again 
find  the  higher  pleasures  of  existence. 

We  labour  for  our  native  country  and  we  bene- 
fit by  its  intellectual  and  moral  greatness.  We 
profit  by  its  language,  its  institutions,  its  laws, 
its  protection,  its  thought. 

"Whoever  should  believe  himself  independent 
of  others,  in  his  affections,  his  thoughts,  and  his 
deeds,"  August  Comte  tells  us,  "could  not  even 
formulate  such  a  blasphemy,  without  an  instant 
contradiction,  because  his  very  language  is  not 
his  own.  "^ 

The  same  thought  applies  to  all  the  elemen- 
tary ideas  in  the  science  of  life.  All  that  man 
possesses,  all  that  benefits  him,  comes  from  others, 
and  he  enjoys  these  privileges,  thanks  to  others* 
aid. 

Patriotism,  aware  of  its  duties  and  of  its  pur- 
poses, is  of  recent  birth.     But  from  its  very  in- 

»  System  oj  Positive  Philosophy. 


Happiness  for  All  189 

ception,  it  has  developed.  Its  essence  is  modified 
in  conformity  with  the  changes  that  are  coming 
over  modern  Hfe.  Spiteful  and  exclusive,  dream- 
ing only  of  quarrelling,  patriotism  is  growing 
more  and  more  peaceful  and  anxious  for  human 
dignity.  The  patriotism  of  men  of  intellect  and 
of  heart  invites  fraternally  the  patriotism  of  their 
neighbours,  all  patriotisms,  to  rival  one  another 
in  the  domain  of  the  conquests  of  labour  and  of 
opinion.  After  murderous  wars,  the  peoples  are 
understanding  better  and  better  the  horrors  of 
war,  and  the  cruelties  of  conquests.  The  respect 
which  labour  inspires,  as  well  as  the  increasing 
importance  of  labourers,  will  only  strengthen 
international  harmony .  The  leaders  of  the  nations , 
and  the  nations  themselves,  publicly  render  hom- 
age to  peace  and  demand  her  reign.  Her  decisive 
triumph  is  approaching,  but  is  not  yet  a  reality. 
There  will  doubtless  be  more  wars,  which  are 
lying  in  wait  for  us,  like  the  last  flames  of  a  dying 
fire.  As  those  who  provoke  them  will  be  barbari- 
ans, in  comparison  with  those  who  will  be  obliged 
to  endure  them  and  to  defend  themselves,  it  is 
important  to  be  strong,  in  order  not  to  be  sub- 
merged by  this  new  invasion  of  the  anti-humane 
elements. 

General  disarmament  is  an  ideal  which  we  shall 


190  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

not  reach  without  still  remaining  for  a  long  time 
armed. 


The  moral  progress  which  is  everywhere  assert- 
ing itself  also  proceeds  from  the  overturning  of  the 
ancient  international  practices,  based  upon  lies, 
spoliation,  and  acts  of  brigandage.  A  rupture 
occurred  between  backward  diplomacy  and  the 
peoples  moving  forward.  This  scission  mani- 
fested itself  chiefly  during  the  last  war  of  the 
Balkans.  It  is  the  honesty  of  the  nations  which, 
having  profited  by  the  immoral  inclinations  of 
diplomacy,  saved  us  a  European  war.  But,  since 
diplomacy  is  no  longer  a  career  of  caste,  but  is 
fully  opened  to  all  the  social  classes,  it  will,  in 
its  turn,  be  elevated.  Renovated  by  the  new 
moral  currents  which  are  appearing  in  every 
domain,  it  will  understand  better  the  advantages 
of  virtue,  and  will  end  by  realising  the  idea  so 
eloquently  expressed  by  Theodore  Roosevelt '  that 
mankind  possesses  worth  only  through  love.  It 
is  inadmissible  that  a  nation  could  treat  other 
nations  differently  from  the  manner  in  which  an 
honest  man  treats  other  men. 

The  more  we  love,  the  higher  we  rise  in  the 

^  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Sorbonne,  April  24,  1910. 


Happiness  for  All  191 

human  scale;    faith  and  the  ideal  still  remain  the 
most  powerful  levers  of  progress  and  6f  happiness. 

I.  If  patriotism  should  vanish  from  the  earth, 
it  would  need  to  be  reborn. 

Religions  are  weakening,  we  are  told — another 
reason  for  not  diminishing  the  patrimony  of  the 
ideal,  in  which  grow  and  flower  the  forces  of  life. 
Patriotism  adorns  our  existence.  It  has  procured 
and  still  procures  for  us  the  highest  motives  of 
living  and  acting.  But  there  is  patriotism  and 
patriotism. 

The  patriotism  of  former  times  consisted  chiefly 
in  hatred  of  neighbouring  nations,  in  the  desire 
to  humiliate,  to  conquer,  or  to  destroy  them. 
Human  solidarity  has  suppressed  these  antiquated 
ideas.  Modem  patriotism  leads  us  to  love  our 
own  country  fervently,  without  hating  the  country 
of  our  neighbours.  We  understand  better  and 
better  that  our  own  safety  depends,  not  only  on 
ourselves,  but  also  on  the  people  by  whom  we  are 
surrounded. 

Abstract  thought  and  economical  interests 
find  themselves  brought  nearer,  in  spite  of  fron- 
tiers. For  the  genius  of  the  foreigner  gives  us 
indescribable  joys,  as  his  material  wealth  secures 
us  numberless  delights  and  pleasures.  We  cannot 
imagine   a   m.an   living   happily   in   the   midst   of 


192  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

unfortunates  who  are  starving  to  death.  Neither 
can  a  people  prosper  among  nations  reduced  to 
poverty  and  slavery. 

In  contributing  to  the  moral  and  material 
greatness  of  the  native  country,  we  are  working 
at  the  same  time  for  mankind.  For  the  happiness 
of  all  fatherlands  is  formed  of  the  happiness  of  all 
their  constituent  elements. 

Patriotism  thus  conceived  finds  its  sanction 
in  the  necessity  of  ensuring  its  triumph  and  its 
duration.  When  any  country  whatever  strives 
to  destroy  international  harmony,  it  is  the  duty 
and  the  right  of  the  others  to  defend  the  nation 
that  is  threatened.  International  peace,  the 
essential  condition  of  happiness,  can  be  founded 
only  upon  the  mutual  respect  of  the  peoples  and 
of  their  rights.  Pacific  evolution,  with  obligatory 
arbitration  and  other  institutions  of  the  same 
nature,  has  no  other  object,  tacitly  pursued,  or 
loudly  acknowledged. 


The  march  to  the  star  often  renders  us  giddy. 
Those  who  have  attained  it  should  not  forget  that 
the  point  in  question  is  not  to  destroy  fatherlands, 
but  to  bring  them  nearer  to  one  another.  So 
long  as  the  law  of  justice  does  not  reign  between 


Happiness  for  All 


193 


nation  and  nation  as  it  is  supposed  to  reign  between 
man  and  man,  the  fatherland  will  remain  the  sole 
source  whence  flow  the  possibilities  of  our  existence. 

Yet  the  fatherland  is  not  always  equally  gentle 
and,  especially,  equally  just  toward  all  its  children. 

Nothing  under  the  sun  is  perfect! 

But  it  would  be  as  senseless  to  set  fire  to  a  city 
because  our  house  was  not  satisfactory  in  all 
respects,  as  to  wish  to  destroy  a  fatherland,  on 
the  pretext  that  some  of  its  citizens  possessed 
greater  privileges  than  others.  To  develop,  we 
must  live.  In  the  present  state  of  affairs,  patriot- 
ism continues  the  essential  food  upon  which  the 
peoples  live.  From  this  arises  the  necessity  for 
the  army  and  armies,  and  the  duty  of  each  citizen, 
however  humanitarian  he  may  be,  to  contribute, 
not  only  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  grandeur, 
but  also  to  the  material  defence  of  his  native  land. 

We  know  what  the  State  is;  but  what  is  the 
fatherland? 

The  fatherland  is  the  commimity  of  moral  and 

material  interests  which  imite  the  inhabitants  of  a 

country,    based,    moreover,    upon    the    desire    to 

belong  to  the  same  native  land.     Lack  of  this 

desire   makes   a  native   of  Alsace-Lorraine   or  a 

Pole  of  Posen  not  a  patriotic  German,  just  as  an 
13 


194  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

inhabitant  of  Trentino  is  an  Italian  though  an 
Austrian  citizen.  Often  it  is  enough  to  be  aware 
that  we  belong  to  a  certain  country  and  to  col- 
laborate in  its  greatness,  to  be  a  genuine  patriot. 
Under  these  conditions,  a  black  or  a  yellow  man,  a 
Christian,  a  Jew,  or  a  Pagan,  but  imbued  with 
French  ideas,  becomes  a  French  patriot,  or  pene- 
trated with  American  feelings,  an  American  patriot. 

Along  tradition  undoubtedly  gives  great  cohesion 
to  the  unity  of  aspirations  and  of  feelings.  But  an 
enlightened  conscience  supplies  the  lack  of  time. 
And  the  conscience  or,  if  the  word  is  preferable, 
knowledge,  is  of  greater  value,  in  many  cases,  than 
the  irrational  voice  of  the  vanished  generations. 

It  is  the  lack  of  comprehension  that  frequently 
facilitates  and  provokes  the  abandonment  of  the 
native  land  for  a  misty  humanity  or  the  class  in- 
terest, no  less  vague,  which  we  christen  by  the 
name  of  the  fatherland  of  the  toilers.  Without  an 
enlightened  conscience,  there  can  be  no  elevated 
patriotism.  Conscience  alone  can  lead  us  to  the 
international  fraternity  founded  upon  the  peaceful 
rivalry  of  human  aspirations  which  will  probably 
always  remain  differentiated  by  the  conditions  of 
the  surrounding  environment. 

Contestable  and  discussed  elsewhere,  the  duty 
of  being  a  patriot  is  manifesting  itself  especially  in 


Happiness  for  A.11  195 

France  and  is  becoming  evident  to  every  French- 
man. 

This  arises  from  the  fact  that,  in  all  the  ages,  the 
greatness  of  France  has  mingled  with  the  progress 
of  humanity.  The  genius  of  her  history  always 
made  her  wage  war  for  the  benefit  of  other  peoples. 
Even  the  conception  of  mankind  as  the  prolonga- 
tion of  the  fatherland  is,  pre-eminently,  the  work  of 
the  great  Revolution. 

After  the  misfortunes  of  the  Terrible  Year,  the 
beautiful  humanitarian  dreams  underwent  a  visible 
decline.  A  second  war  disastrous  to  France  would 
deal  for  ages  a  mortal  blow  to  human  solidarity. 

"If  we  sought  to  heap  up,"  Michelet  has  said 
somewhere,  "what  each  nation  has  from  dis- 
interested motives  expended  in  gold,  in  blood,  and 
in  efforts  of  every  description  for  objects  which 
could  serve  only  the  world  at  large,  the  pyramid 
of  France  would  rise  to  the  heavens. " 

That  is  why  all  the  nations,  great  or  small, 
aside  from  the  mean  calculations  of  diplomacy, 
desire  a  France  that  is  strong  within  and  without. 
Instinctively,  they  all  share  in  the  evolution  of 
her  life.  The  weaker  and,  perhaps  for  that  very 
reason,  the  more  sympathetic  ones,  loudly  admit 
that  they  have  two  fatherlands,  their  own  and 
France.     The  same  thing    occurs   frequently,   in 


196  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

Russia  or  in  the  South  American  repubHcs,  that 
have  only  love  for  France,  with  so  much  ardour 
that  it  becomes  touching.  Patriotism,  in  its 
noble  modem  meaning,  having  nothing  in  common 
with  hatred  of  the  foreigner,  or  prejudice  of  race 
or  religion,  is  assured  of  a  long  continuance. 

This  is  particularly  true  of  French  patriotism, 
the  necessary  refuge  of  all  the  humanitarians. 
It  will  perhaps  survive  all  the  others,  provided 
France  remains  faithful  to  her  historic  genius, 
which  has  made  her  the  first,  because  the  best 
beloved,  of  the  nations. 

II.  Mankind  is  on  a  higher  elevation  than  our 
native  land.  To  attain  its  heights  a  very  lofty 
soul  is  required,  but,  in  the  present  condition  of 
society,  that  elevation  can  be  reached  only  through 
love  for  our  native  land.  When  we  love  our 
country  intelligently  and  humanely,  we  also  love 
the  human  family.  Then  we  understand  that 
human  happiness  depends  on  the  great  solidarity 
of  human  beings  and  tends  toward  the  closer  and 
closer  unification  of  peoples,  races,  and  creeds. 
Before  reaching  this  Paradise,  there  is  a  long  and 
toilsome  road  to  traverse.  "Let  everything  go!" 
cry  those  who  are  impulsive  and  impatient,  "and 
move    toward    those    heavenly    regions."     This 


Happiness  for  All  197 

haste  entails  numerous  perils.  We  must  not 
act  as  if  the  goal  in  view  were  already  attained. 

In  this  march  forward,  the  peoples  resemble  a 
gang  of  workmen  engaged  in  felling  a  giant  tree. 
If  the  ropes  are  loosed  before  the  favourable 
moment,  the  tree  falls  back  with  all  its  weight  and 
inflicts  fatal  injuries.  A  balloon  is  permitted  to 
rise  toward  the  heights  only  when  it  is  sufficiently 
inflated  and  has  power  enough  to  maintain  itself 
in  the  air.  By  acting  otherwise,  we  should  provoke 
an  inevitable  catastrophe,  entailing,  with  the 
destruction  of  the  aerostat,  that  of  the  passengers. 

It  is  the  same  with  countries  as  with  private 
property.  Their  destruction  may  figure  in  a  dream 
of  future  humanity.  But  beware  of  those  who 
would  desire  to  destroy  henceforth  their  beneficent 
forces,  which  are  necessary  to  the  progress  of 
mankind. 

III.  Happiness  thus  finds  numberless  benefits 
in  the  vast  domain  of  the  affections.  Its  frontiers, 
accessible  to  all,  extend  very  far,  offering  a  deHght- 
ful  and  hospitable  shelter  to  all  who  desire  to  seek 
its  refuge.  All  visitors  receive  the  same  welcome. 
Rich  or  poor,  sovereign  or  slave,  can  draw  the  same 
amount  of  joys  from  family  tenderness,  friendship, 
or  love.  Doubtless  special  favours  are  reserved 
for  refined  sensibiHties.     But,  by  dint  of  exercising 


198  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

afTectionate  feelings,  we  all  arrive  at  the  same 
degree  of  perfection.  The  simple  heart  of  a 
field-labourer  can  rise  to  heights  of  loving  which 
are  inaccessible  to  a  prince  of  the  intellect.  For 
we  improve  while  loving,  and  the  sources  of  love 
are  found  within  us  all. 

C. — Active  Life  and  Happiness 

I.  There  is  something  essentially  divine  in 
labour.  It  ennobles  and  elevates  the  soul  and 
strengthens  the  body.  It  spreads  around  our 
"ego"  like  an  atmosphere  of  satisfaction  and 
serenity.  Action,  incarnated  in  movement,  pre- 
sides over  the  fate  of  the  world  and  the  destiny 
of  organised  beings.  The  most  eternal  and  the 
most  permanent  force  in  Space  and  in  Time  is 
the  vibration  of  the  atom  which  penetrates  the 
great  Universe. 

We  all  instinctively  feel  its  deHghts.  Apparently 
working  for  a  goal  more  or  less  near  at  hand,  as 
soon  as  it  is  attained,  we  thrust  back  its  boundaries 
and  continue  our  advance.  Work  is  often  like 
hunting.  The  product  is  of  little  importance,  the 
essential  thing  is  the  activity  which  it  imposes 
upon  us.  A  source  of  forgetfulness  of  the  anxieties 
of  Hfe,  it  gives  birth  to  the  majority  of  its  joys. 
Happiness  without  labour  is  as  incomprehensible 


Happiness  for  All  199 

as  life  without  movement.  The  forms  of  labour 
vary  infinitely,  but  its  principle  constitutes  a 
vital  necessity,  like  sleep.  Moreover,  like  the 
latter,  it  is  imposed  upon  the  entire  world.  Even 
idle  people  are  compelled  to  have  recourse  to 
work,  on  pain  of  seeing  their  physical  or  intellectual 
powers  perish.  According  to  Aristotle  {Nico- 
machean  Ethics)  pleasures  themselves  proceed 
solely  from  activity.  Without  putting  vim  into 
play,  without  activity,  there  is  no  enjoyment. 
"God  has  imposed  upon  us  very  severe  trials  on 
this  earth,  "  Legouve  has  said,  ''but  He  has  created 
labour,  the  compensation  for  everything."  To 
Voltaire,  Hfe  and  action  even  appear  identical. 
"Not  to  be  occupied,  and  not  to  exist,"  he  tells 
us,  "amount  to  the  same  thing."  And  the  philo- 
sopher is  right.  While  inactive,  we  vegetate ;  while 
active,  we  live. 

II.  There  has  been  too  much  insistence  upon 
the  necessity  of  labour,  but  not  enough  upon  the 
pleasures  it  affords.  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  brow 
thou  shalt  earn  thy  bread, "  remains  like  a  menace 
suspended  over  our  life.  Its  harshness  terrifies 
us.  Under  the  influence  of  this  sad  suggestion 
we  have  acquired  a  horror  of  work.  We  talk  too 
much  of  the  discomforts  of  toil.  It  is  a  little 
like  a  rose  whose  thorns  alone  are  visible. 


200         TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

No,  Heaven  has  not  decreed  labour  as  a  punish- 
ment.    Rather  is  it  an  adornment,  a  luxury  of  life. 

Fatigued  by  work,  we  yearn  for  rest.  But  this 
rest,  once  gained,  involves  unutterable  evils. 
Longevity,  to  which,  wittingly  or  unwittingly, 
we  all  aspire,  smiles  only  upon  active  people. 
The  custom  of  retiring  between  the  age  of  forty 
and  fifty  years  is  fatal  to  the  small  tradesman. 
All  these  men  living  on  small  incomes,  who  dream 
only  of  rest,  usually  die  at  the  end  of  a  certain 
time.  Diseases  waste  and  decimate  them,  and 
their  intellect  diminishes.  Senility,  with  its  train 
of  attendant  ills,  soon  follows. 

It  is  beneficial,  as  we  grow  old,  to  limit  our 
activity;  there  is  nothing  more  injurious  than  to 
relinquish  it  entirely.  The  great  men  of  the 
English  Government  whose  mode  of  life  is  known 
to  us  afford  an  instructive  example.  Up  to  the 
most  advanced  age,  they  do  not  cease  to  labour 
physically  and  mentally.  The  octogenarian  Glad- 
stone, commenting  on  the  Bible  and  sawing  wood, 
is  a  stock  example.  One  of  my  friends,  a  Minister 
under  Queen  Victoria,  who  has  passed  his  eightieth 
birthday,  has  just  sent  me  his  first  attempts  at 
translating  Shelley — into  French  verse.  It  is  by 
reason  of  this  ceaseless  activity  that  their  health 
is  maintained  robust  until  the  fatal  departure. 


Happiness  for  All  201 

III.     Labour  is  as  indispensable  as  food.     But, 
like  the  latter,  it  requires  selection  and  careful 
use.     Excess  is  fatal.     The  unfortunate  conditions 
under   which    labour  is    carried    on    cause   fatal 
consequences.     The    entire    social    agitation    of 
modem  times  aims,  in  the  main,  only  to  improve 
the  conditions  of  labour,  to  render  it  more  equi- 
table, but  not  to  make  it  disappear  from  the  world. 
Those  who  misunderstand  the  necessity  of  labour 
are  ignorant  of  the  elementary  foundations  of  the 
operation  of  our  organism.     The  definite  object 
of  social  reform  aspires  in  the  main  merely  to 
improve  the  conditions  of  labour.     Our  individual 
happiness,  as  well  as  that  of  the  community,  is 
obtainable  solely  at  this  price.     The   society   of 
the  future,  which  will  require  labour  from  every 
one,   will  benefit   chiefly  the  numerous   wealthy 
persons  who  are  the  unfortunate  victims  of  their 
indolence. 

Through  the  annulment,  by  the  tax  upon  in- 
heritances, of  the  possibility  of  Hving  upon  the 
labour  of  their  ancestors,  the  sons  of  the  rich  will  be 
safeguarded  from  rotting  morally  and  physically 
in  a  degrading  idleness.  For  work  is  a  genuine 
gift  from  heaven.  Universally  accessible,  it  be- 
comes a  source  of  universal  enjoyment.  Optimism 
is  active,  pessimism  is  passive.     The  joy  of  life 


202  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

is  a  fruit  that  grows  upon  deeply  tilled  soil.  Idlers 
should  be  pitied.  Their  dissatisfaction  with  life 
flows  from  their  inaction,  and  this  dissatisfaction 
develops  into  diseases  which  result  from  laziness. 
Society  should  treat  idlers  as  Ulysses  dealt  with 
his  unfortunate  companions,  the  lotus-eaters. 
"He  took  them  by  force  to  the  ships,  in  spite  of 
their  tears,  and  fastened  them  to  the  rowers* 
benches.  And,  seated  in  ranks,  they  struck  with 
their  oars  the  foaming  sea." 

IV.  Labour,  provided  it  is  never  abandoned, 
leads  to  everything.  Talent  is  only  the  fruit  of 
perseverance.  So  everybody  can  have  talent  on 
condition  of  desiring  it  energetically  and  intelli- 
gently. According  to  Buffon,  genius  itself  is 
only  long-continued  patience.  Doubtless  this 
statement  is  erroneous.  There  is  something  in 
genius  which  escapes  our  efforts  and  our  will. 
We  may  console  ourselves,  however,  by  thinking 
that  mankind  owes  far  more  to  the  persevering 
labour  of  the  great  and  small  talents,  than  to  those 
rare  meteors  that  have  illumined,  for  very  brief 
moments,  the  sky  of  its  history.  After  all,  many 
of  the  beneficent  forces  which  we  baptise  with  the 
name  of  genius  were  only  great  talents.  But 
genius,  like  talent,  cannot  dispense  with  labour. 

The    literary    heritage    bequeathed    by    Emile 


Happiness  for  A.11  203 

Zola  is  perfectly  stupendous.  His  annual  pro- 
duction, often  reaching  one  thousand  to  twelve 
hundred  printed  pages,  awakened  the  astonish- 
ment of  his  numerous  friends.  One  day  I  asked 
him  the  secret  of  his  surprising  creation. 

"I  write  only  three  or  four  pages  a  day,"  he 
said,  "but  I  produce  them  regularly.  Multiply 
these  by  the  number  of  days  in  the  year,  and 
the  years  of  labour  which  we  are  in  a  condition 
to  furnish,  and  you  will  have  the  secret  of  my 
production  which,  to  so  many  people,  appears 
prodigious." 

V.  But  there  are  degrees  of  activity,  as  there 
are  degrees  of  happiness.  In  the  first  place,  there 
is  the  vain  and  sterile  bustle  which  should  not 
be  confounded  with  sane,  productive  labour. 
There  is  work  whose  excessive  burden  or  insanitary 
conditions  exhaust  the  individual,  and  destroy 
his  health.  There  is  exclusively  physical  or  ex- 
clusively mental  labour.  Both,  carried  to  ex- 
tremes, are  equally  harmful  to  the  integrity  of  our 
normal  life.  The  important  point  is  that  work 
should  be  the  beneficial  corollary  of  our  life,  its 
supreme  regulator.  People  working  only  with 
the  brain  must  have  physical  exercise;  manual 
labourers  require  intellectual  exercise. 

The  ideal  of  active  life  would  be  to  harmonise 


204  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

better  our  special  tastes  and  the  mandates  of 
our  health.  Fate  does  not  often  grant  the  attain- 
ment of  this  ideal  just  as  it  often  denies  us  the 
ideal  woman  as  a  wife,  or  a  fortune  sufficient  for 
our  appetites. 

It  is  the  part  of  the  thinking  and  toiling  man  to 
correct  the  errors  of  destiny.  He  does  not  always 
succeed,  but  the  efforts  of  his  will  often  afford 
him  almost  as  much  happiness  as  his  decisive 
triumph  would  obtain.  Without  joy  in  effort, 
without  the  various  satisfactions  which  labour 
bestows  under  its  eternal  form  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  we  should  still  be  in  the  age  of  the  stone 
broken  by  percussion. 

VI.  Action  is  an  element  and  a  condition  of 
happiness.  Men  should  not  be  told  according  to 
the  famous  exclamation  of  Elizabeth  Browning, 
of  that  fair  day  when  all  shall  rest.  Nay,  the 
fairest  day  will  be  that  when  all  men  will  labour 
in  a  rational  way,  according  to  their  tastes  and 
to  the  requirements  of  their  health.  The  pur- 
pose of  social  progress  is  only  to  render  labour 
obligatory  upon  the  idlers,  to  lessen  its  burden 
upon  the  lowly,  and  to  bring  more  order  into 
disordered  toil.  The-  happiness  of  individuals 
and  of  the  community  can  only  gain  by  this 
result. 


Happiness  for  All  205 

D. — Happiness  Accessible  to  All 

I.  Nature  has  always  been  calumniated.  A 
systematic  disparagement  conceals  from  man  its 
beauties  and  its  benefits.  We  are  all  under  an 
invincible  inclination  to  slander  its  objects,  to 
disfigure  its  course.  Certain  systems  of  morality, 
which  should  glorify  it,  only  degrade  it  to  the  level 
of  the  ill-humour  of  mankind.  Man,  forgetful  of 
the  privileged  part  which  he  has  been  made  to 
play  in  the  progress  of  the  world,  has  always  shown 
himself  ungrateful  toward  his  destiny.  Instead  of 
thinking  of  the  risks  of  the  evolution  which  has 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  created  beings,  he  does 
nothing  but  lament  over  his  fate.  Yet  all  that  the 
gods  had  in  their  possession,  they  have  relinquished 
in  favour  of  men.  Strength  and  intelligence,  the 
domination  and  the  comprehension  of  environ- 
ment, the  adaptation  to  external  conditions,  how 
many  divine  gifts,  including  the  mind,  in  which 
the  deity  itself  is  bom  and  vanishes !  Dissatisfied 
man  constantly  asks  more;  he  asks  chiefly  the 
impossible. 

Does  he  not  resemble  the  lucky  gambler  who, 
after  breaking  the  bank,  grumbles  because  it  is 
empty? 

II.  Kind  nature  has  permitted  men  to  appro- 


2o6  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

priate  for  private  use  certain  of  her  elements. 
We  might  say,  however,  that,  solicitous  for  the 
happiness  of  the  species,  she  has  reserved  for  the 
advantage  of  all  her  essential  benefits.  Inalien- 
able and  never  alienated,  these  serve  to  benefit 
every  human  being,  for  all  are  equally  dear  to  the 
eternal  principle  of  matter. 

Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes,  we  find  inexhaustible 
elements  of  happiness.  We  have  only  to  will,  and 
they  are  ours. 

Among  their  number  are  the  Beauties  of  Nature. 
Let  us  but  try  to  understand  these.  To  do  so  we 
have  only  to  love  them.  This  is  all  nature  asks  to 
enable  her  to  console,  em'bellish,  and  strengthen 
our  life.  The  source  of  lofty  pleasures,  she  multi- 
pHes  and  places  these  within  our  reach.  To  idlers, 
she  furnishes  a  pleasant  pastime.  We  need  only 
gaze,  and  the  soul  is  filled  with  unutterable  charms. 
To  the  toilers,  and  the  wearied  ones  of  life,  she 
affords  restorative  relaxation;  to  all,  the  joy  of 
living.  Equally  tender  and  beneficent  to  the 
entire  world,  she  knows  neither  the  privileges  of 
birth  nor  of  fortune.  Those  most  abandoned  by 
fate  have  the  same  right  and  the  same  possibility 
of  warming  and  renewing  themselves  within  her 
bosom.  Mountain  or  sea,  field  or  forest,  all 
incarnate  the  infinite  aspects  of  beauty,  the  causes 


Happiness  for  All  207 

of  various  joys.  It  would  be  difficult  to  enumerate 
the  sources  of  pleasure  which  the  contemplation 
of  nature  affords.  They  are  innumerable:  sun- 
rise and  sunset,  fair  weather  and  rain,  the  moon 
witn  its  varied  changes,  sea  and  mountain,  forest 
or  plain,  rivers  or  lakes,  the  clouded  or  the  starry 
sky,  azure  or  impenetrable  space,  the  melancholy 
of  the  eternal  passing  of  things  which  will  never 
give  the  integral  expression  of  their  infinite  aspects, 
their  repercussions  upon  man,  mysterious,  fugitive, 
and  indiscernible. 

Are  not  the  mountains,  the  waves,  and  the  sky 
a  part  of  me  and  of  my  soul,  as  Manfred  said?' 

For  earth  is  full  of  Paradise.  Insensate  man 
persists  in  seeking  it  where  there  is  no  chance 
that  it  will  be  found. 

When,  wearied  by  terrestrial  landscapes,  we 
raise  our  eyes  toward  the  sky,  what  an  illimitable 
spectacle  of  wealth  and  grandeur  is  presented  to 
our  admiration ! 

The  clouds  driven  by  the  wind  afford  an  infinite 
variety  of  forms  of  beauty,  whose  observation 
gives  us  pleasures  of  rare  intensity.  And  what- 
ever the  poverty  of  our  life  may  be,  whatever  may 
be  the  latitude  that  shelters  us,  the  view  of  the 

^  Are  not  the  mountains,  waves  and  skies  a  part 
Of  me,  and  of  my  soul,  as  I  of  them? — Byron. 


2o8  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

heavens  will  be  presented  with  the  same  freedom 
to  every  man  and  to  every  woman. 

We  admire  art,  but  we  do  not  sufficiently  admire 
nature.  Yet  is  there  a  painter  who  is  capable  of 
rendering  the  innumerable  shades  of  her  beauty? 
There  is  not  one,  as  there  is  no  architect  qualified 
to  imitate  her  structures  of  unrivalled  boldness,  of 
grandeur  surpassing  our  imagination,  of  an  art 
more  sublime  than  all  the  arts  living  or  vanished. 
Before,  beside,  above,  and  below  us,  there  are 
worlds  of  beauty,  more  vast  and  rich  than  those 
gathered  in  the  most  famous  museums. 

III.  Mankind  is  only  a  theatre  offered  to  the 
eyes  of  human  beings.  Each  one  of  us  is  at  the 
same  time  actor  and  spectator. 

The  part  which  we  play  often  does  not  depend 
upon  ourselves,  but  that  of  looking,  judging,  laugh- 
ing, applauding,  hissing,  filling  our  souls  with 
ecstasy  or  bitterness,  vibrating  or  suffering  with 
the  actors,  constitutes  our  indestructible  privilege, 
a  privilege  possessed  in  the  same  degree  by  the 
king  and  the  farm-labourer  and  exercised  accord- 
ing to  the  greatness  of  their  souls.  Whoever  ac- 
customs himself  to  look  around  him  creates  sources 
of  solid  pleasure.  Monarchs  themselves  confess 
that  they  are  our  subjects, — subjects  of  our  reason- 
ing,  of  our  judgment.     We  summon  them  before 


Happiness  for  All  209 

our  minds,  we  admire  or  despise  them,  we  applaud 
or  hiss  them.  The  most  dreaded  autocrats  are 
thus  transformed  into  prisoners  whom  we  summon 
before  the  bar  of  our  consideration.  Vainly  do 
they  desire  to  rule,  to  humble  us.  We  succeed 
through  our  reason  in  subjecting  to  our  judgments 
our  haughtiest  masters. 

After  having  taken  a  seat  at  the  performance  of 
life,  we  have  a  right  to  listen  to  the  finest,  the  most 
famous  among  the  artists.  We  follow  them  in  the 
smallest  details  of  their  career.  In  case  of  need, 
we  abandon  them,  choosing  at  our  pleasure  more 
attractive  actors. 

A  delightful  spectacle,  which  we  attend  or 
leave  with  absolute  independence,  a  performance 
as  changeful  as  the  colour  of  the  sky,  never  twice 
the  same:  enveloping,  impressing,  thrilHng!  It 
presents  itself  in  everything  that  is  said  and  done. 
Does  not  the  point  in  question  principally  concern 
human  beings  and  ideas  which  touch  us  most 
closely:  whom  we  love  or  abhor,  whose  triumph 
we  desire  or  fear? 

IV.  The  progress  of  education  and  of  the 
modem  press  have  singularly  enlarged  the  stage 
of  life.  The  rarest,  the  most  foreign,  the  most 
varied  actors  are  thus  introduced  into  the  per- 
formiance  presented  to  our  curiosity.  Our  distant 
14 


210  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

ancestors  were  shut  within  the  precincts  of  a 
narrow  building  which  only  the  members  of  their 
tribe  could  enter.  Gradually  the  widened  edifice 
has  served  to  shelter  actors  belonging  to  larger 
and  larger  groups.  Now  the  entire  world  is 
contributing  to  make  our  individual  life  more 
interesting. 

We  profit  by  certain  pleasures,  just  as  we  derive 
benefit  from  sleep  unconsciously.  Vainly  do  they 
adorn  existence  and  obtain  for  us  unexpected  de- 
lights. We  ignore  these  pleasvres  by  not  giving 
them  our  attention.  But  let  us  try  to  pause  before 
the  spectacle  observed  in  a  sort  of  lethargy.  Let 
us  reflect  for  an  instant  upon  the  varied  pleasures 
which  we  obtain  by  reading  a  paper  that  publishes 
for  our  perusal  the  most  curious  facts,  collected 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Moreover,  if 
a  phenomenon  becomes  especially  interesting,  the 
paper  will  take  pains  to  present  its  most  striking, 
most  dramatic,  most  exciting  sides. 

Seated  in  an  arm-chair,  we  follow  all  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  world- theatre.  Unknown  people 
are  thus  working  in  distant  countries  to  arouse,  to 
maintain,  and  to  satisfy  our  curiosity.  How  many 
varied  sensations,  how  many  intense  pleasures, 
how  many  noble  and  lofty  thoughts  spring  up 
within  us  at  the  contact  of  this  life  of  the  human 


Happiness  for  All  21 1 

race  presenting  itself  in  a  palace  dazzling  with 
light!  Our  pleasure  increases  in  proportion  as 
we  grasp  the  meaning  of  this  complex  spectacle. 
What  a  source  of  joys,  of  pleasures,  and  of 
thoughts  lies  in  the  lives  of  other  people  which 
seem  to  be  enacted  for  our  diversion. 

To  enjoy  the  sweetness  of  the  open  air,  we  need 
only  think  of  the  unpleasant  consequences  when 
it  is  foul.  To  grasp  intelHgently  the  value  of  this 
human  intimacy  which  the  perfection  of  means  of 
communication  and  of  the  printing-press  bestows 
upon  modern  society,  think  what  it  would  have 
meant  to  the  great  intellects  of  the  past.  Imagine 
Dante,  Montaigne,  or  Shakespeare  living  under 
conditions  making  possible  the  ceaseless  contact 
of  mankind  through  space,  sharing  the  festivals 
accessible  to  the  humblest  among  us,  and  we  shall 
better  understand  the  worth  and  the  interest  of 
our  surroundings. 

V.  A  fairy  is  visiting  man.  In  her  kindness, 
she  offers  him  a  remedy  for  isolation,  lassitude  of 
mind,  the  vexations  of  life. 

"Whenever  you  feel  unhappy  and  need  for- 
getfulness  of  your  troubles;  when,  wounded  by 
life,  you  desire  a  supreme  comforter;  when,  har- 
assed by  the  dulness  of  your  environment,  you 
■  aspire  to  the  society  of  a  superior  being ;  when  you 


212  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

desire  to  laugh  or  to  weep  over  the  miseries  here 
below  in  company  with  a  brother  spirit,  you  have 
merely  to  take  this  mysterious  talisman  and  who- 
ever you  call  will  come  at  your  summons. " 

The  fairy,  having  thus  spoken,  gave  to  man  the 
book. 

The  book  which,  thanks  to  its  modest  price 
and  the  increasing  number  of  libraries,  has  be- 
come as  accessible  as  the  newspaper,  affords  an 
inexhaustible  source  for  augmenting  the  intensity 
of  our  existence!  It  is  not  the  book  of  one  coun- 
try, it  is  the  book  of  every  country  which,  re- 
sponding to  the  closer  and  closer  bonds  uniting 
the  human  intelligence,  is  presented  to  us.  The 
supreme  thought  of  all  minds  is  thus  lavished  upon 
every  man!  We  enjoy  this  privilege,  as  we  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  oxygen,  and  pay  no  heed. 

VI.  Men  are  not  very  interesting.  They 
resemble  one  another,  we  are  told,  like  two  leaves 
of  the  same  tree.  Observe  them  more  closely, 
and  you  will  learn  that  what  we  term  similitude, 
is  frequently  the  result  of  our  ignorance  of  things. 

When  we  think  that  fifteen  persons  can  be 
seated  around  a  table  in  i  ,350  thousand  milHons  of 
ways,  it  becomes  more  than  paradoxical  to  talk 
about  the  uniformity  of  men. 

Because  blindness  prevents  us  from  seeing  all 


Happiness  for  A.11  213 

that  there  is  to  see  of  the  external  world,  it  should 
not  be  inferred  that  the  latter  has  vanished. 

Men,  with  their  physiological  and  intellectual 
varieties,  should  present  myriads  and  myriads 
of  dissimilar  beings. 

What  is  more  agitating  than  a  human  life  which 
is  developing  in  our  immediate  vicinity?  There 
can  be  nothing  more  dramatic  than  the  human 
groups  which,  above  and  below  us,  are  struggling 
against  their  destinies ! 

VII.  Fatigued  by  the  drama  of  men,  we  have 
before  us  that  of  the  animals.  What  a  harvest 
of  vast  sensations  this  domain  also  affords!  We 
have  ripened.  In  our  enlarged  comprehension  of 
created  beings  we  know  the  unity  of  soul  that 
pervades  Nature.  It  is  no  longer  solely  the  schol- 
ars or  the  philosophers  who  proclaim  this  unity; 
the  poets  and  novelists  are  also  imbued  with  the 
idea.  Balzac  tells  us  that  the  Creator  has  used 
one  and  the  same  pattern  for  every  organised 
being.  The  animals  form  a  portion  of  the  Infinite 
Spirit  animating  the  universe.  In  contemplating 
and  studying  the  inferior  kindred  of  man,  we  feel 
a  singular  delight,  which  makes  us  descend  into 
the  lowest  depths  of  the  formation  of  our  "ego." 
We  thus  glide  to  the  eternally  young  source  of 
aged  humanity. 


214  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Whether  it  is  the  dog,  the  cat,  the  horse,  or 
mere  insects  with  their  infinite  variations,  observ- 
ing these  affords  treasures  of  enjoyment.  Read 
again  the  touching  chapters  which  lovers  of  the 
brute  creation  have  devoted  to  their  friends,  the 
animals,  and  you  will  see,  if  you  observe  intelli- 
gently, to  what  an  extent  the  life  of  a  horse,  a  dog, 
a  cat,  a  bird,  is  filled  with  thought,  with  duty,  with 
joy,  with  love,  all  the  attributes  of  the  conscious 
life  of  man.  The  pages  of  Romanes,  Lubbock, 
Darwin,  or  those  of  Magaud  d'Aubusson  reveal  to 
us  animals,  birds,  insects,  rich  in  numberless 
attractions  and  endowed  with  an  intelligence  that 
is  full  of  charm.  Man  thus  discovers  around 
him  a  series  of  groups  living  for  his  service,  offering 
rare  sensations  to  his  soul,  ever  seeking  something 
new,  harmonious  prospects  which  cast  subtle  rays 
upon  the  great  shadow  in  which  our  future  is  lost. 

How  many  examples  of  tenderness  and  of  prim- 
ordial virtues  do  we  not  encounter  among  the 
animals?  The  family  affections,  which  we  appre- 
ciate so  highly  in  human  beings,  flourish  equally 
among  our  inferior  brothers.  These  animals 
even  attain  a  degree  of  heroism.  Whether  mam- 
mals or  fish,  all  offer  us  examples  of  the  sublime 
love  of  parents  for  their  offspring. 

Schweinfurth  relates  a  curious  incident   of   a 


Happiness  for  All  215 

female  elephant,  a  typical  incident  in  the  animal 
world.  Hunters,  to  capture  her,  set  fire  to  the 
jungle.  The  anxious  mother  tried  to  save  her 
little  ones  from  the  approaching  fire.  Constantly- 
drawing  water  into  her  trunk,  she  threw  it  over 
the  baby  elephants;  she  covered  them  with  her 
own  body  and  uttered  cries  of  despair  when  her 
efforts  became  futile. 

Seel@y,  Cuvier,  Lacepede,  and  Valenciennes 
found  similar  virtues  among  the  fish.  The  chromis, 
nicknamed  paterfamilias,  shelters  the  fertilised 
eggs  in  his  jaws.  Among  the  amphibia  and  the 
reptiles,  if  the  female  is  the  guardian  of  the  eggs, 
the  male  is  their  defender.  As  for  birds,  Toussenel 
affirms,  they  have  the  sentiment  of  family  and 
paternity  more  strongly  implanted  than  has  even 
man.  Two  species  of  paroquets  do  not  survive 
their  husbands.  Who  of  us  has  not  witnessed 
the  heart-rending  sorrow  which  seizes  upon  turtle- 
doves that  have  lost  their  mates? 

Monogamy,  so  much  admired  among  men,  and 
so  rarely  practised,  is  found  far  more  frequently 
among  the  animals.  Darwin  affirms  that  he  has 
never  observed  cases  of  polygamy  among  the 
rodents  or  the  ins'ectivora.  Even  the  common 
rats,  whose  reputation  is  so  bad,  have,  according 
to  many  naturalists,  only  one  companion.     And 


2i6  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

if  the  lions  give  themselves  up  to  polygamy,  they 
are  the  only  ones  to  practise  it  in  the  family  of  the 
camivora. 

Birds,  ordinarily  monogamous,  become  poly- 
gamous only  when  domesticated.  This  is  also  the 
case  with  ducks  or  wild  geese,  that  afterward 
live  in  captivity.  It  is  the  rearing  and  domesti- 
cation of  animals  practised  by  man  that  turn 
them  aside  from  their  family  virtues. 

Lastly,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  intelligence  of 
animals!  How  charming  is  that  quip  of  La 
Mettrie,  asserting  that  "if  the  brutes  could  talk, 
they  would  prove  that  there  is  no  bigger  fool 
than  the  human  being.  May  they  have  the 
inclination  to  keep  silent!"  But  they  do  not 
speak.  Yet  who  knows  what  the  future  has  in 
store  for  us? 

The  animals,  according  to  Haeckel,  are  in  the 
position  of  deaf-mutes  who  are  imable  to  articulate 
their  cries  on  account  of  an  imperfection  of  their 
vocal  cords. 

But  since  we  know  how  to  make  these  deaf- 
mutes  speak,  perhaps  we  shall  succeed  in  edu- 
cating also  the  animals.  Then  what  a  revolution 
there  will  be  in  the  relations  between  organised 
beings ! 

The  miracles  wrought  by  the  sciences  render 


Happiness  for  All  217 

this  hypothesis  plausible.  But  while  awaiting 
its  realisation,  which  will  require  a  few  dozens 
of  centuries  or  of  years,  let  us  console  ourselves 
by  thinking  of  the  infinite  testimonials  with  which 
we  are  furnished  by  the  relative  observations  of  the 
affectionate  and  intellectual  life  of  our  inferior 
brothers. 

The  world  of  plants  and  flowers !  Do  we  know 
any  delight  more  unusual  than  that  which  beauti- 
ful flowers  afford  to  him  who  has  learned  to  love 
them?  How  true  is  the  page  of  La  Bruyere  about 
the  man  who  is  satisfied  with  his  day  because  he 
has  seen  beautiful  ttdips,  or  concerning  the  happy 
mortal  who  possesses  a  rare  variety  of  plums! 

These  flowers,  at  which  we  glance  with  an  ab- 
sent eye,  enshrine  numberless  and  endless  mys- 
teries. The  little  withered  rose  which  we  fling 
to  the  winds  is  animated  by  problems  of  tremend- 
ous gravity.  There  are  laws  of  floral  architecture 
more  exact  and  more  implacable  than  those  which 
govern  our  buildings. 

In  the  primary  order,  specialists  tell  us,  the 
flower  puts  the  five  parts  of  a  whorl  upon  a  com- 
pact spiral,  and  this  arrangement  is  made  in  such  a 
manner  that  two  turns  of  the  spire  receive  the 
series  of  five  parts.  Plants  developing  under  the 
influence  of  mathem.atical  laws,  what  a  world  of 


2i8  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

enigmas    of    which    our    ancestors    were    wholly 
ignorant ! 

We  may  add  that  they  never  had  the  opportunity 
to  admire  so  many  species  of  plants  as  we  see  in 
our  days.  The  smallest  garden  plot  of  the  work- 
ingman  often  contains  more  varieties,  and  more 
beautiful  specimens,  than  the  ancient  gardens  of 
the  palace  of  Versailles.  The  modern  man  enjoys 
the  plants  more  easily,  loves  them  m. ore,  and  also 
understands  them  better.  The  plants  to  our 
comprehending  eyes  are  animated  with  a  new  life. 
We  understand  and  admire  their  sensitiveness, 
which  is  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  animals.  In 
watching  the  smallest  plant  we  see  it  stirred  by  the 
cares  of  life.  The  plasmodium  of  a  mucilaginous 
mushroom,  placed  upon  a  wet  paper,  draws  into 
itself  at  once  if  the  dampness  evaporates.  Moisten 
the  paper,  and  the  cryptogam  will  return.  It  will 
even  ascend  several  millimetres  if  a  bit  of  board 
covered  with  gelatine  is  placed  there.  But  wet 
a  piece  of  paper  with  salted  water  and  the  mush- 
room will  avoid  it,  as  an  animal  turns  away  from  a 
disagreeable  or  dangerous  food.  When  we  see 
the  mimosas  defending  themselves  from  the  rapa- 
city of  herbivorous  animals  by  folding  back  their 
leaves  and  simulating  a  dry,  dead  bush ;  the  pa- 
pillae of  the  Drosera  seize  as  food  the  living  insect ; 


Happiness  for  All  219 

the  leaves  of  the  Dionaea  {muscipula)  close  for 
digestion  when  a  bit  of  meat  or  egg  is  placed  upon 
them,  and  remain  open  if  a  stone  or  a  scrap  of 
paper  is  put  there,  we  feel  moved  by  a  sense  of 
tenderness  toward  these  mysterious  existences 
blooming  or  fading  around  us. 

The  artificial  sleep  to  which  plants  are  subjected 
and  the  forcing  caused  by  this  method,  present 
numberless  surprises  to  plant  lovers,  in  the  trans- 
formations produced  in  the  vegetable  world ! 

Under  Francis  I.  France  possessed  about  fifty 
varieties  of  apples,  she  now  has  several  hundreds. 
It  is  the  same  with  other  fruits,  vegetables,  or 
flowers. 

Where  will  this  multipHcity  of  forms  and  quali- 
ties end?  Mendel  has  demonstrated  that,  with 
three  kinds  of  sweet -peas,  each  possessing  a  special 
characteristic  which  distinguishes  it  from  the  two 
others,  eight  perfectly  stable  types  may  be  created, 
and  afterward,  through  successive  hybridations, 
twenty-seven  more  or  less  unstable  forms.  With 
four  specimens,  we  reach  the  large  number  of 
thirty -two  and  eighty ! 

We  may  add  the  spontaneous  variations,  such  as 
Vries  has  formulated,  and  infinite  horizons  open 
for  our  delight.  Have  we  not  succeeded  in  alter- 
ing the  perfume  of  flowers  and  the  flavour  of  fruits, 


220  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

as  in  the  singular  case  of  Sahlies,  releasing  the 
fragrance  of  magnolias,  or  producing  apples  with 
the  taste  of  strawberries? 

Science,  that  worker  of  miracles,  has  reanimated 
the  world  of  plants.  In  their  beauty,  long  regarded 
as  lifeless,  it  has  recovered  the  soul  of  things. 
According  to  vegetable  physiology,  plants  feel, 
act,  and  live.  They  even  possess  memory. 
Prudent,  they  work  for  the  future.  Notice  a 
young  plant  that  is  placed  between  two  sources 
of  Hght.  It  will  turn  in  the  direction  of  the  most 
intense,  the  most  brilliant.  And  it  stores  the 
light  it  seeks,  as  man  economises  for  days  of  need. 

The  difference  which  separates  plants  from  men  is 
often  that  of  degree,  not  of  kind.  Certain  botan- 
ists treat  them  with  tender  solicitude,  like  sisters 
sleeping  in  infancy. 

Be  kind  to  them,  and  sweetness  will  flow  into 
your  own  soul.  We  need  not  possess  a  garden  or 
trees  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  plant  life.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  possess  a  portion  of  the  sky  to  enjoy 
its  beauties. 

VIII.  If  we  lack  love  for  or  interest  in  our 
fellow-beings  or  the  humble  brothers  of  our  life, 
let  us  look  within  ourselves.  What  a  rich  spectacle 
of  unexpected  sensations!  A  world  is  hidden  in 
each   individual.     We   are   not,   as   the   ancients 


Happiness  for  All  221 

believed,  a  single  and  indivisible  being.  We  are 
multiple  beings.  Man  varies,  it  is  said.  It  would 
be  more  accurate  to  say  that  men  succeed  each 
other  within  us.  During  the  course  of  our  exist- 
ence, numerous  persons  have  lived  and  died  in 
every  one  of  us.  The  child  that  is  born  does  not 
resemble  the  being  that  he  will  become  in  five  or 
six  years.  The  lad  is  unlike  the  child,  as  the 
youth  is  unlike  the  lad.  The  man  of  mature  years 
differs  from  the  adult,  as  the  old  man  differs  from 
the  one  of  middle  age. 

When,  on  the  threshold  of  death,  we  cast  a 
glance  backward,  we  are  astonished  to  see  that 
our  moral  and  intellectual  life  has  been  only  a 
successive  passage  of  beings  bom  within  ourselves. 
They  were  dear  to  us,  because  they  formed  a 
portion  of  our  successive  personality.  Never- 
theless, the  spectacle  of  the  simultaneous  multi- 
plicity of  our  being  impresses  us  least.  In  the 
presence  of  deeds  and  crystallised  sensations,  we 
forget  the  causes  which  have  given  them  birth  as, 
in  naming  a  battle,  we  neglect  the  obscure  heroes 
by  whom  it  was  fought.  Yet  our  conscience,  nay, 
even  the  guiding  ideas  of  our  life,  are  often  the 
fruit  of  a  competition  between  the  various  beings 
which  constitute  our  "ego." 

We  will  not  go  as  far  as  Claude  Bernard.     This 


222  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

scientist  was  convinced  that  each  spinal  nervous 
centre  was  the  seat  of  the  principle  which  feels, 
understands,  moves,  and  wills.  Our  ego,  conse- 
quently, would  be  composed  of  millions  of  psychic 
individualities,  graded  from  the  encephalic  gan- 
glions and  the  elongated  marrow  to  the  lower  end 
of  the  spinal  tree. 

Let  us  be  content  with  a  few  subconsciousnesses 
which  He,  think,  suffer,  and  rejoice  in  the  depths 
of  our  ego. 

IX.  At  the  present  day  we  know  that  there  are 
within  us  at  least  two  or  three  psychical  beings. 
The  name,  frequently  unattractive,  by  which  they 
are  christened,  such  as  subliminary  or  second 
consciousness,  is  of  small  importance.  These 
double,  triple,  or  even  quadruple  beings — as 
certain  psychologists  admit — dwell  within  us,  side 
by  side.  The  desire  to  observe  is  enough  to  make 
their  life  burst  forth  before  our  eyes,  luminous  in 
its  clearness  and  disturbing  in  its  manifestations. 
Thus,  in  each  one  of  us,  different  beings  elbow 
each  other.  Their  entirety  forms  our  ego.  It 
requires  only  a  conflict  of  passions,  an  act  of  energy 
bringing  contradictory  motives  into  play,  to 
enable  us  to  perceive  .these  various  beings  rushing 
forward  and  taking  part  in  the  fray.  The  more 
the  passions  clash  against  our  acquired  morality, 


Happiness  for  All  223 

the  more  evident  this  inward  battle  becomes. 
One  might  think  it  a  duel  between  beings  of  flesh 
and  blood  fighting  over  a  coveted  prize.  In  the 
presence  of  the  passionate  love  inspired  by  the 
wife  of  a  friend  dear  to  our  heart,  our  second  self 
suddenly  awakes.  With  eloquence  generous  in  its 
impetuosity,  this  second  self  will  show  us  the 
moral  gulf  to  which  our  conduct  is  dragging  us. 
Shocked  and  indignant  at  the  wiles  of  our  desire, 
it  will  not  even  hesitate  to  overwhelm  its  rival  with 
the  utmost  contempt.  Whether  victor  or  van- 
quished, it  will  struggle  and  will  do  its  duty.  In- 
defatigable, it  will  resist  for  months  the  invading 
passion.  Often,  bruised  and  exhausted,  it  keeps 
silence.  But  it  will  make  its  presence  felt  by  the 
remorse  which  it  will  not  cease  to  lavish.  As 
victor  it  will  be  gentle.  It  will  surroimd  our 
moral  hesitations  with  its  solicitude.  It  will 
emphasise  the  benefits  of  triumphant  duty  and 
will  labour  for  the  entire  perfection  of  the  being  of 
which  it  is  only  a  simple  emanation. 

The  ancient  Guebers  saw  the  principles  of  good 
and  evil,  their  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman,  without. 
We  behold  these  multiplied  and  living  within  our- 
selves. 

Try  to  observe  the  birth  of  the  decisive  actions 
of  your  life.     Endeavour  to  surprise  your  passions 


224  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

red-handed  in  the  act  of  inward  strife,  and  you  will 
readily  perceive  that  behind  the  facts  seen,  there 
are  facts  more  curious  that  are  not  seen. 

Few  are  those  who  feel  within  themselves  the 
existence  of  these  ''subliminal"  beings.  But 
how  numerous  are  those  who  hear  the  voice  of 
their  conscience  and  obey  its  summons! 

X.  We  have  within  us  certain  dream  com- 
panions. They  are  gay  or  sorrov/ful.  They  are 
commonplace  or  lofty  in  character.  They  are 
often  in  harmony  with  our  tastes  and  with  the 
condition  of  our  soul.  We  need  only  associate  and 
talk  with  these  and  we  shall  improve  ourselves 
while  perfecting  them.  The  man  who  has  learned 
to  converse  with  these  subconscious  beings  will 
have  within  his  reach  pleasures  which  the  society 
of  human  personalities  could  rarely  afford. 

The  return  into  ourselves,  the  contemplation 
of  our  own  ego,  seems  to  constitute  a  part  of  the 
modern  conscience.  Follow  the  development  of 
the  Hterature  of  our  day.  Never,  at  any  period, 
has  our  inner  life  played  a  similar  part  in  letters. 
Whether  it  is  the  psychological,  analytical,  ro- 
mantic, or  even  historical  romance,  the  author 
will  always  try  to  delve  into  the  souls  of  his 
heroes.  What  impresses  us  in  the  classic  authors 
is  the  implacable  and  violent  action  which  drags 


Happiness  for  All  225 

along,  as  if  in  a  mad  dance,  fatality  and  its  victims. 

Analysis,  so  dear  to  our  modern  mentality,  seeks 
to  conquer  wider  and  wider  domains  over  uncon- 
sciousness. 

The  private  journal  and  memoirs  are  at  a  pre- 
mium. What  constitutes  their  interest,  unless  it 
is  the  windows  that  they  open  to  us  upon  the  soul 
and  upon  souls? 

To  see  with  what  eager  curiosity  we  follow  the 
lives  of  others  and  shun  our  own  "ego,"  makes 
one  think  of  a  man  who  would  desert  his  own  chil- 
dren to  interest  himself  in  the  fate  of  those  who 
were  strangers. 

XL  The  vv^orld  overflows  with  complaints  of 
the  wickedness  of  man.  Irony  and  distrust 
wound  our  sharpened,  often  even  morbid,  sensi- 
bility. Against  the  wounds  of  self-love,  what 
shield  is  more  efficacious  than  that  of  our  inward 
life? 

In  each  one  of  us  dwell  what  psychologists  term 
our  subconsciousnesses.  Human  negligence  does 
not  grant  them  even  special  names,  which  might 
facilitate  the  investigation  of  our  "ego.*'  The  lat- 
ter should  thus  be  taught  to  turn  them  to  account. 
In  case  of  moral  anguish,  the  support  of  the  chosen 
being,  of  the  subconsciousness  that  is  best  suited 

to  assuage  our  sorrows,  would  more  easily  calm 
15 


226         THe  Science  of  Happiness 

« 
our  apprehensions.     For  lack  of  a  technical  term, 

let  us  say  simply  consciousness  No.  i,  No.  2,  or 

No.  3.     The  name  is  a  trivial  matter. ' 

When  I  think  of  the  internal  colloquies  between 

these  subconsciousnesses,  a  sort  of  tender  emotion 

takes  possession  of  me.     I  see  under  these  silent 

conflicts   between   two,  or    often    three,   entities 

equally  dear  to  my  being,   the  formation  of  the 

guiding  principles  of  my  life.    You  sm.ile,  my  friend. 

Laugh,  if  you  choose,  at   the  outbursts,  but  try 

this  method  notwithstanding.      Enter  your  own 

personality.      Try  to  witness,  as  a  disinterested 

spectator,  a  battle  between  the  passionate  appeals 

of  life,  and  your  moral  and  religious  principles. 

Listen  to  the  voices  of  some,  and  the  answers  of 

the  others.       Note    their    successive    arguments. 

Repeat  the  same  experiment  ten,  fifteen,   twenty 

times.      A  day  will  come  when,  charmed  in  your 

turn,  you  will  be  rapturously  interested  in  the 

scenes  of  the  life  kindling  or  dying  in  the  home  of 

your  "ego." 

^  We  are  accustomed  to  admit,  without  too  much  contradiction, 
the  successive  variations  of  our  personality.  It  will  be  necessary, 
we  may  believe,  to  thrust  farther  back  the  true  progress  of  the 
metaphysical  person,  and  consider  the  idea  even  of  a  personal 
unity  as  a  semblance  .  .  .  (See  Pierre  Janet,  Psychological  Auto- 
tnatism.)  In  short,  by  the  side  of  the  successive  psychological 
existences,  we  must  admit  the  simultaneous  psychological  exist- 
ences which  experience  discovers,  but  does  not  create.  .  .  . 


Happiness  for  A.11  227 

XII.  Does  not  the  pause  before  our  conscious- 
ness, as  we  watch  it  live,  think,  feel,  enjoy,  suffer, 
increase  the  intensity  or  the  range  of  our  existence? 

To  lovers  of  life  who  complain  of  its  brief  dura- 
tion, this  contemplation  affords  an  attractive  means 
of  soothing  their  regret.  Our  purely  external  life, 
too  much  absorbed  in  the  worship  of  money,  might 
perhaps  find  its  balance  in  this  mental  pilgrimage. 
The  soul  and  the  mind  would  soften  all  the  acerbity 
of  the  outward  life,  directed  and  inspired  by  de- 
sires and  instincts  for  which  we  often  blush  and 
yet  always  endure. 

We  pass  close  by  the  wealth  scattered  within 
and  around  us  by  the  primeval  force  of  things. 
We  have  more  riches  within  our  souls  than  outside 
of  our  personalities.  Everything  depends  on  our 
desire  to  use  this  wealth.  But,  in  many  respects, 
we  resemble  the  gold-seeker,  who  abandons  the 
best  veins  to  engage  in  a  search  for  diamonds  that 
are  not  to  be  found.  The  mission  of  education 
and  of  people  of  intelligence  would  be  to  check 
the  unfortunate  man  in  his  foolish  enterprise. 
We  should  point  out  to  him  the  unappreciated 
treasures  lying  at  his  feet.  Above  all,  we  ought 
to  open  the  eyes  of  those  who,  while  closing  them, 
weep  because  unable  to  see  anything  before  and 
around  them. 


228  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

XIII.  Plato  had  already  discovered  that  the 
contemplation  of  pure  beauty  gives  value  to  life. 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  sought  in  it  consolation  for  the 
soul's  imprisonment  in  the  body.  Kant  observes 
that  "the  beautiful  prepares  us  for  loving  some- 
thing." Superior  human  beings  have  always 
drawn  from  beauty  a  state  of  ideal  happiness. 

Modern  education  ought  to  render  this  happiness 
accessible  to  all.  From  the  top  to. the  bottom  of 
the  human  ladder,  all  should  enjoy  the  divine 
music  which  fills  the  universe.  Man  has  been 
taught  many  wearisome  things.  Why  has  he  not 
been  taught  to  look  around  him?  Above  all, 
why  is  he  not  taught  to  look  within  himself? 

To  render  this  emotion  accessible  to  all  will 
bring  to  every  one  a  fragment  of  this  heavenly 
firmament  which  charms  and  attracts.  Suffer 
life  to  be  penetrated  by  it,  and  existence  will 
become  a  work  of  art.  We  shall  be  tempted  to 
establish  harmony  between  our  acts  and  to  har- 
monise our  acts  with  life.  Beauty  and  happiness 
will  find  in  this  readjustment  an  equal  share. 

The  worship  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  suggests 
to  us  the  worship  of  the  good.  A  soul  elevated 
and  purified  by  the  sight  of  the  beautiful,  becomes 
better.  Above  all,  it  becomes  intolerant  of  the 
littlenesses   and   meannesses   of   life.     Moralists, 


Happiness  for  All  229 

and  not  the  least  important  among  these,  for  in- 
stance, Guyau,  have  desired  to  base  moraHty 
upon  beauty.  According  to  these  moral  philo- 
sophers, Art  should  form  an  integral  part  of 
existence.  Our  joys  ought  to  be  joys  of  beauty. 
Passion  for  the  beautiful  has  doubtless  carried 
them  too  far.  The  impressions  of  beauty  being 
only  the  result  of  individual  sensations,  one  can- 
not see  clearly  how  we  could  deduce  from  these  a 
government  of  life,  or  a  duty  obligatory  upon  every 
one.  Yet  it  is  beyond  question  that  if  beauty 
reigned  as  sovereign  of  the  world,  goodness  would 
become  the  co-director  of  human  lives. 

Let  us  also  teach  man  to  enjoy  the  beauties 
hidden  in  the  depths  of  his  own  being.  Young 
people  should  be  accustomed  to  make  pilgrimages 
within  their  souls,  as  they  are  taken  to  external 
spectacles. 

What  is  poesy?  It  is  not  the  art  of  singing  in 
the  moonlight,  the  hand  quivering  on  an  instru- 
ment of  several  strings.  Nor  is  it  the  art  of  rhym- 
ing strange  or  harmonious  words.  Poesy  is  the 
power  of  our  soul  to  raise  itself  above  life  and  make 
it  commune  with  the  invisible  genius  or  the  vis- 
ible beauties  of  nature.  This  poesy  ought  to  be 
enjoyed  by  every  one,  for  every  one  might  feel 
its  charm.     We  are  born  with  a  talent  for  garbing 


230  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

in  beauty,  with  the  pen  or  the  brush,  attractive 
or  ugly  things.  But  all  can  delight  in  the  joy  and 
the  beauty  diffused  throughout  nature.  All  can 
be  poets! 

The  pedagogy  of  the  future  will  toil  to  accom- 
plish this  ascent,  and  will  labour,  above  all,  to 
make  the  sons  unlike  their  fathers. 

E. — Religion  and  Religiousness 

(Happiness  through  Faith) 

I.  Faith  is  a  supreme  benefit  to  souls.  Without 
it,  life  becomes  colourless,  if  not  sad,  and  its  in- 
terest vanishes.  Indifference  and  weariness  invade 
our  consciousness,  gradually  preparing  a  favourable 
soil  for  the  growth  of  dissatisfaction.  Life  be- 
comes a  burden.  We  feel  unhappy  as  a  man  would 
be  who  was  condemned  to  remain  in  darkness. 
It  is  faith  which  triumphs  over  our  troubles,  our 
discouragements,  our  weaknesses.  Faith  adorns 
life  by  giving  it  an  ideal;  faith  strengthens  life 
by  assigning  it  a  purpose;  faith  also  permits  us 
to  live  our  whole  life,  by  promising  to  the  dreariest 
existences  joyous  rewards  as  the  crown  of  their 
efforts.  Whatever  may  be  its  object — God,  native 
land,  family,  science,  or  humanity — faith  lends 
to  life  an  intoxicating  fragrance.     A  mind  without 


Happiness  for  A.11  231 

faith  is  a  cold  and  dismal  abode,  which  hastens  the 
destruction  of  whoever  is  shut  within. 

The  fate  of  faith,  so  strongly  attacked  on  all 
sides,  grieves  our  contemporaries,  and  renders 
them  gloomy.  Men  have  attempted  to  proscribe 
faith  as  opposed  to  the  interests  of  real  life;  they 
have  striven  to  assail  it  on  the  pretext  that  it  is 
not  in  harmony  with  the  scientific  methods  in 
force.  Lastly,  by  identifying  it  with  religion, 
those  were  detached  who  are  not  willing  to  walk 
in  the  ruts  assigned  by  the  churches. 

Flouted,  humiliated,  or  abandoned,  faith  deserts 
our  souls,  and  with  it  vanish  all  the  enthusiasms 
which  adorn  and  strengthen  life.  The  religions 
themselves  suffer  from  its  absence,  for  instead  of 
true  behevers,  animated  by  faith,  they  often  have 
as  followers  only  calculators  who  accept  religions 
as  social  necessities  or  political  possibilities. 

But  faith  is  one  of  the  most  living  and  dazzling 
sources  of  happiness.  In  the  name  of  happiness 
we  must  emancipate  faith  from  the  guardianship 
of  its  enemies. 

Without  it,  life  would  become  impossible.  For 
what  is  duty  itself,  that  duty  which  sustains  in- 
dividuals, native  lands,  and  mankind,  religious 
men,  and  especially  those  who  are  not  religious, 
except  a  mysterious,   intangible  article  of  faith, 


232  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

which  dispenses  with  all  reason  and  argument? 
Vainly  do  we  analyse  duty,  vainly  do  we  explain 
it;  above  all  these  explanations  hovers,  supreme, 
the  faith  which  illumines  it  with  its  virtues.  It  is 
faith  which  procures  for  duty  the  stamp  of  inevit- 
able necessity.  Duty  vanishes,  if  faith  ceases  to 
bear  it  company. 

II.  It  is  an  error  not  to  see  in  faith,  under  all 
its  forms,  a  companion  of  religion.  Both  are 
associated  and  become  similar.  Religion  is  im- 
possible without  faith,  while  all  sincere  faith  is 
equivalent  to  a  religion.  Their  objects  may 
vary,  but  their  essence  is  the  same.  Viewed  from 
this  standpoint,  religion  and  faith  become  attri- 
butes of  conscious  man.  Their  various  forms 
undergo  radical  modifications,  but  their  elementary 
principle  always  survives.  We  cannot  conceive  a 
future  human  race  without  faith,  as  we  do  not 
think  of  the  human  race  of  the  present  day  without 
religion.  Religion  and  religions,  as  they  develop, 
merge  into  a  sort  of  religiousness,  a  domain  of 
vague  faith,  where  dogmas  lose  their  distinct  out- 
lines and  assume  the  form  of  indefinite  aspirations. 
Faith  and  religiousness  have  always  existed; 
religions  are  of  more  recent  creation.  Only  in  the 
train  of  Buddha,  Confucius,  Zarathustra,  Moses, 
Jesus  Christ,  or  Mahomet,  did  dogmatic  religions 


Happiness  for  All  233 

appear.  The  so-called  religions  of  Greece  had 
no  sacerdotal  organisation.  Neither  had  they 
obligatory  dogmas.  They  knew  and  imposed  upon 
the  citizens  merely  external  rites.  The  supreme 
deity  of  the  Greek  philosophers  was  simply  reason. 
Aristotle  placed  Nature  herself  far  below  reason, 
which  she  could  not  equal. 

The  Greeks  lacked  several  conditions  for  trans- 
forming their  mythology  into  a  religion :  a  revealer, 
a  sacred  book,  and  a  theological  system.  No 
Greek  had  ventured  to  place  himself,  in  the  char- 
acter of  an  intermediary,  between  Olympus  and 
simple  mortals ;  not  one  of  them  had  written  books 
under  the  dictation  of  the  gods.  Nor  had  Greece 
a  special  theology,  codifying  the  priesthood,  and 
the  modes  of  worshipping  the  gods.  The  will  and 
the  caprice  of  individuals  did  not  cease  to  regulate 
the  rites.  The  religion  of  the  Greeks  was  only  an 
imagery  of  the  poets.  The  genius  of  the  latter  had 
furnished  its  foundation  and  its  ornaments.  The 
attempts  of  the  Pythagoreans  to  give  Greek 
faith  the  more  stable  stamp  of  the  revealed  reli- 
gions never  attained  any  positive  result.  Greek 
credulity,  free  in  its  movem^ents,  only  peopled 
with  infinite  variations  the  frames  of  the  poems 
bequeathed  by  the  ancestors. 

We  scorn  the  past  and  hold  the  future  cheap,  if 


234  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

we  consider  the  human  race  without  dogmatic 
religion  an  impossibility. 

Let  us  trust  the  human  soul.  It  is  broader  than 
all  religions  and  deeper  than  all  the  philosophical 
schools.  It  shelters  and  creates  these.  Within 
its  precincts  all  are  merged  and  have  their  birth. 
The  error  of  a  religion  or  of  a  philosophical  system 
does  not  imply  error  on  the  part  of  our  soul.  In 
its  march  toward  the  stars,  the  latter  has  sur- 
mounted all  the  fleeting  crises  of  religions  and  of 
reason. 

The  history  of  the  relations  of  science  and  of 
reason  are  only  one  vast  cemetery  where  lie 
buried  the  most  opposite  conceptions.  The  reason 
which  incarnated  science,  and  the  relig'ous  emotion 
which  assumed  the  form  of  various  religions,  were 
sometimes  melted  into  a  single  mass,  sometimes 
separated  into  a  system  of  dependence  and  equality, 
or  in  an  open  conflict,  and  were  finally  enclosed 
within  a  country  with  distinctly  outlined  frontiers. 
How  many  incongruous  doctrines!  How  many 
dissimilar  religions ! 

III.  In  the  struggle  of  free  thought  against 
dogmas,  the  chances  of  victory  are  not  on  the  side 
of  the  latter.  The  conquests  of  science,  popular- 
ised by  the  lay  education  that  is  rendered  oblig- 
atory,   are    undermining    more    and    more    the 


Happiness  for  All  235 

dogmas  of  religion.     Every  one  admits  that  re- 
ligion    is    losing     ground.     Yet    no     one    dares 
imagine  that  dogmas  will  return  in  their  offensive 
aspects.     Such  an  eventuality  would  appear  illogi- 
cal,   as    a    movement    backward.     Religions,    to 
exist,   must  make  a  compact  with  independent 
thought.     But  the  latter,  while  spreading  through 
the  rehgious  domain,   destroys   all  its  principal 
foundations.     BeHef  in  Paradise  or  in  Hell,  the 
essential  tenets  of  all  dogmatic  religion,  vanishes 
in  proportion  to  the  distance  that  science  thrusts 
back  the  limits  of  the  heavens,  and  increases  the 
number  of  worlds.     The  man  of  the  present  day 
knows  that  the  various  species  of  animals  Hving 
around  us  exceed  two  millions,  and  that  the  va- 
rieties of  plants  registered  by  the  botanists  attain  a 
total  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
Science   has   inflicted   deadly   wounds   upon   the 
childish  pride  of  man.     He  no  longer  dares  con- 
sider himself  the  only  privileged  being  in  the  midst 
of  the  myriads  of  worlds  and  of  beings,  the  greater 
part   of  which  still  escapes   his   comprehension. 
Convinced  that  the  earth  is  only  a  drop  of  mud  in 
the  vast  economy  of  the  Universe,  the  modern 
man  no  longer  poses  as  an  only  child  of  a  divine 
combination.     His  boundless  ambition  turns  from 
the    heavens,    which    humiliate    him.     He    seeks 


236  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

solace  for  his  troubles  upon  earth,  which  smiles 
upon  him  more  kindly.  This  tendency  is  becom- 
ing more  marked.  The  religions  which  under- 
stand the  advantages  that  the  opportunity  affords 
are  opening  their  doors  to  their  age-long  adversary. 
Modernism,  in  all  its  forms,  is  penetrating  the 
Church  and  the  churches.  Caught  between  two 
fires,  the  invasion  from  without  and  the  revolution 
within,  the  rel  gions  are  throwing  out  their  ballast, 
and  ridding  themselves  of  the  elements  which, 
after  having  made  them  live  for  centuries,  could 
now  only  make  them  die.  They  are  growing 
spiritualised,  and  thus  drawing  nearer  to  the  reli- 
giousness which  is  and  will  be  eternal. 

IV.  A  regrettable  confusion  has  been  created 
between  religion  and  religiousness.  Now  the 
former  is  incomprehensible  without  a  creed,  a 
collection  of  dogmas  forming  a  positive  religion. 
Religiousness  is  only  a  special  quality  of  our 
conscience.  It  aspires  to  lofty  emotions,  outside 
of  all  creeds,  all  dogmas.  A  man  who  professes 
no  religion  may  have  religiousness.  It  is  futile 
not  to  be  a  Catholic,  a  Mussulman,  or  a  Jew. 
We  may,  nevertheless,  believe  in  the  divine 
Reason  of  things,  of  which  the  human  race 
is  only  a  simple  manifestation.  The  most  saga- 
cious scholars  often  hold  this  difference  cheaply. 


Happiness  for  -A.11  237 

In  their  bewilderment,  they  even  ask  science 
to  become  religious,  and  religion  to  become 
scientific. 

Thus  Huxley  tells  us  that  true  science  and 
true  religion  are  twin  sisters  and  their  separation 
would  be  the  certain  death  of  both.  Science 
prospers  so  far  as  it  is  religious  and  religion  flour- 
ishes in  the  exact  proportion  to  the  depth  and  the 
solidity  of  its  scientific  basis.  True  science, 
Herbert  Spencer  asserts,  is  essentially  religious. 

Religion  being  based  upon  authority,  and  science 
upon  free  examination  and  experience,  we  do  not 
readi'y  understand  the  possibility  and  the  ad- 
vantages of  their  pairing.  How  are  the  two 
extremes  to  be  reconciled?  Above  all,  how  are 
these  two  principles,  which  appear  mutually  to 
exclude  each  other,  to  be  harmonised?  By  dint  of 
having  made  a  bad  selection  of  the  foundation  of 
harmony,  we  are  incurring  the  risk  of  incensing 
the  two  adversaries  still  more.  Why  not  abandon 
them  to  the  logic  of  their  fate?  Their  antagonism 
is  reduced  to  the  character  of  the  spirit  which 
animates  them.  There  is  a  scientific  spirit. 
There  is  also  a  religious  spirit.  Both  reigning  in 
different  domains  can  continue  to  act  there  without 
mutually  disturbing  each  other.    The  whole  ques- 


238  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

tion  lies  therein,  according  to  the  fine  remark  of 
E.  Boutroux:  Does  the  scientific  spirit  which, 
in  certain  of  its  representatives,  assumes  the 
negation  of  the  religious  spirit,  actually  ex- 
clude it,  or  does  it  permit  possibility  to  be 
substituted? 

If  it  is  admitted  that  the  relig'ous  spirit,  in  its 
elevated  expression,  is  only  religiousness  losing 
itself  in  the  boundless  empire  of  the  eternal  and 
insoluble  mysteries,  passing  from  the  complexity 
of  worlds  and  facts  toward  the  Beyond  which  has 
disturbed  and  attracted  us  ever  since  man  lived 
upon  the  earth,  the  response  cannot  be  uncertain. 
Yes,  there  will  be  always  a  vast  neutral  zone. 
The  philosophy  of  the  religions  will  there  encounter 
the  philosophy  of  the  sciences.  Religious  thought 
will  there  fraternise  with  philosophic  thought  in  a 
sublime  emotion  of  the  Unknown,  in  its  march 
toward  the  Unknown. 

For  under  the  influence  of  modem  mentality,  the 
religious  development  which  embraces  all  faiths, 
is  more  and  more  releasing  moral  principles  and 
destroying  dogmas  and  forms.  It  is  doing  more : 
it  is  tearing  from  dogmas  their  stamp  of  despotism 
and  compelling  them  to  put  themselves  in  harmony 
with  independent  thought. 

Creeds   and   dogmas,    in   being   modified,    will 


Happiness  for  A.11  239 

move  toward  that  religiousness^  in  which  the 
human  race  of  the  future  will  commune.  It  will 
scatter  along  its  way  the  errors  and  superstitions 
which  divide  souls,  retaining  only  the  truths 
which  bring  them  nearer. 

V.  Civilisation  and  social  progress  demonstrate 
the  necessity  and  the  benefits  of  the  union  of 
human  beings.  The  crossings  of  peoples  and  of 
races  are  daily  increasing.  Science  and  literatures 
are  becoming  common  property.  International 
laws  are  widening  their  domain.  Like  the  stamp 
of  the  postal  union,  there  is  a  single  thought 
dominating  all  the  divergences  of  ideas  and  of 
interests.  Religions,  like  all  human  institutions, 
must  conform  to  the  law  of  the  living.  They  must 
submit,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  conditions  of 
existence  that  obtain  in  the  surroimding  environ- 
ment. They  will  remain  only  by  being  in  harmony 
with  human  thought  and  feelings .  Far  from  work- 
ing for  the  division  of  minds,  they  will  strive  for  a 
closer  connection. 

Religions  will  thus  be  able  to  coexist  for  a  long 
time,  side  by  side,  in  the  presence  of  reHgiousness, 

^  For  lack  of  a  more  suitable  word,  we  use  the  old  term,  relig- 
iousness, whose  meaning  has  often  been  distorted  and  violated. 
Perhaps  it  might  have  been  better  to  invent  a  new  one,  but  the 
danger  of  being  entirely  misunderstood  was  greater  than  that  of 
being  insufficiently  comprehended. 


240         TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

which  answers  the  needs  of  all  men.  Native 
countries  will  exist  in  the  same  way  beside  the 
human  race,  the  common  patrimony  of  all  con- 
scious beings.  No  doubt  a  day  will  come  when 
in  their  turn  the  various  alluvions  of  rites  and 
dogmas  which  obscure  the  human  mind  will 
vanish.  Then  will  burst  forth  in  all  its  beauty 
the  divine  essence  of  all  religions,  religiousness, 
the  universal  and  ineradicable  principle.  The 
eternal  source,  it  has  given  birth  to  all  the  religions. 
In  their  turn,  these  may  die,  in  the  same  place 
which  gave  them  birth. 

Thus  will  pass  away  the  creeds  and  the  dogmas, 
yielding  their  ground  to  religiousness,  the  domain 
of  unutterable  aspirations,  common  to  all  human 
beings. 

Nevertheless,  it  would  be  unfair  to  regard  all 
the  dogmatic  religions  as  foes  of  our  happiness. 
When  they  do  not  lower  the  minds  of  believers 
by  a  degrading  fanaticism,  and  base  articles  of 
faith,  they  exert  a  beneficent  influence.  To  under- 
stand this  reservation,  it  is  sufficient  to  remember 
the  state  of  savagery  created  in  the  past  by  certain 
religions.  The  present,  in  fact,  is  not  free  from  this 
condition  of  things.  Do  we  not  see  to-day  the 
majority  of  the  religions  regulate  the  conduct  of 
their  followers  on  the  bases  of  a  double  accounting 


Happiness  for  All  241 

with  the  Lord?  With  extraordinary  irreverence, 
the  Deity  is  reduced  to  the  level  of  a  moderately 
just  man.  Our  acts  are  rated.  They  are  rewarded 
or  we  are  made  to  pay  a  penalty.  The  good  graces 
of  the  Lord  are  bought  with  offerings  and  good 
deeds.  After  having  sinned  a  long  time,  we  be- 
come reconciled  to  Him  by  the  aid  of  magic 
formulas  or  thanks  to  the  intervention  of  his 
favourite  ministers.  While  believing  this,  the 
disciple  blushes  when  he  is  compelled  to  perceive 
the  fact.     This  is  much. 

The  most  cruel  spectacles  which  the  religions 
present  to  us  are  those  of  persecutions  in  the  name 
of  faith.  But  merely  let  the  spirit  of  tolerance 
and  human  imderstanding  penetrate  the  religious 
domain  and  it  will  sufiice  to  render  that  domain 
a  factor  of  serenity  and  happiness. 

Lovers  of  free  and  independent  thought  should 
not  forget  that,  in  striving  to  persecute  religion 
and  its  believers,  it  would  becomie  still  more 
odious  than  is  religious  fanaticism;  for  religions 
have  excuses  which  free  thought  lacks. 

Lying  beliefs,  it  will  be  said.     Nothing  justifies 

them.     Let  us  reject  them  in  the  name  of  truth! 

Now,  it  is  precisely  philosophic  truth  which  teaches 

us  supreme  caution.     We  know  the  errors  of  our 

knowledge.     Its    extent    and    its    depth   remiove 
16 


242  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

nothing  from  the  fragiUty  of  its  principles.  Science 
does  not  cease  to  progress,  but  the  paths  through 
which  it  leads  us  are  not  always  infallible.  If  in 
every  truth  there  is  a  portion  of  falsehood,  in 
every  falsehood  there  is  a  fragment  of  truth. 
From  the  scientific  standpoint,  nothing  authorises 
the  logic  of  the  sectarian  mind  violently  rejecting 
everything  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  its  com- 
prehension. 

VI.  We  forget  the  advantages  which  illusion 
often  offers.  Who  would  dare  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  monstrous  cruelty  of  telling  a  father  who 
worships  his  child,  that  this  child  is  the  fruit  of 
adultery?  No  matter  if  we  do  have  incontestable 
proof,  nevertheless  we  are  silent.  As  regards  the 
choice  between  the  truth  which  would  have  crushed 
the  heart  of  the  man  who  was  deceived,  and  salu- 
tary silence,  doubt  is  impossible.  The  most  up- 
right man  bows  to  the  falsehood.  He  will  even 
do  what  is  necessary  to  fill  up  the  fissures  through 
which  the  truth  might  escape. 

After  all,  why  snatch  from  man  the  possibility 
of  seeing  things  as  his  happiness  requires?  Re- 
member the  example  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  most 
virtuous  of  the  Romans.  Faustina  basely  de- 
ceived him.  Her  love  affairs  were  numerous. 
The  Empress  chose  them  principally  in  the  most 


Happiness  for  All  243 

despised  professions,  and  scandalous  rumours 
were  current  of  her  shame  and  her  treacheries. 
Comedians  pubHcly  named  Faustina's  lovers,  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  was  pointed  out  as  the  most 
deluded  of  husbands.  Yet  the  Emperor  would 
hear  nothing,  would  see  nothing.  To  him  Faustina 
ever  remained  the  good  and  faithful  wife.  He 
benevolently  shut  his  eyes.  Gradually  certainty 
returned  to  his  soul.  He  no  longer  doubted  his 
conjugal  honour,  for  he  believed  absolutely  in  the 
virtue  of  her  whom  all  Rome  was  loading  with 
reproaches. 

The  prayer  which  Marcus  Aurelius  addresses 
to  the  gods  on  the  banks  of  the  Gran  is  delicious. 
He  thanks  them,  in  the  sincerity  of  his  soul, 
for  having  given  to  him  a  good,  faithful,  and 
affectionate  wife. 

How  disturbing  this  good  man's  example  re- 
mains! Why  tear  aside  the  veil  which  covers 
happiness  if,  when  dethroned,  it  must  give  place 
to  misery?  We  possess  only  the  happiness  which 
is  felt,  understood,  above  all,  desired.  Why  rouse 
the  dreamer  when  his  dream,  without  injuring 
any  one,  affords  him  visible  pleasure?  Truth 
is  divine  in  its  essence — another  reason  for  not 
causing  suffering  in  the  name  of  truth.  Another 
reason  for  not  arrogating  its  exclusive  possession. 


244  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Yes,  souls  dear  to  our  hearts  live  by  illusions. 
Why  snatch  these  illusions  away?  Science  can 
continue  its  course  freely,  without  striving  to 
destroy  the  things  which  do  not  impede  its  path. 
It  needs  neither  persecution  nor  proselytism.  Its 
victories  are  invading  contemporary  mentality. 
By  the  natural  force  of  things,  they  will  elimin- 
ate from  it  all  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  its  pre- 
cise truths.  But  spiritualistic  philosophy  is  not 
incompatible  with  scientific  method.  Witness 
Pasteur,  Darwin,  and  so  many  other  scientists  who 
are  so  imbued  with  "religiousness." 

VII.  Dogmatic  religions  are  also  wrong  in 
seeking  to  struggle  against  lay  morality.  The 
latter  takes  the  place  of  religious  morality  when  the 
other  weakens  or  disappears.  Social  harmony 
requires  their  mutual  respect.  Mankind  can  exist 
only  upon  moral  foundations.  Why  discredit 
those  of  science  and  of  experience,  if  a  portion  of 
the  nation  must  live  by  these  latter?  In  the  same 
way  it  is  dangerous  to  attempt  to  destroy  religious 
morality  if  the  ground  is  not  ready  to  receive  the 
seeds  of  the  other  form.  Both  have  sufficient 
cause  for  mutual  respect.  Guyot  justly  says: 
*'The  false,  even  the  absurd,  has  always  played  so 
prominent  a  part  in  human  affairs  that  it  would 
certainly  be  dangerous  to  exclude  it  at  any  time. " 


Happiness  for  JSA\  245 

On  the  other  hand,  free  and  independent  mor- 
ality is,  after  all,  only  a  morality  founded  upon  the 
social  and  moral  interests  of  man.  Its  object  is  the 
happiness  of  the  individual  and  of  the  community. 
Why  then  should  we  not  feel  disarmed  in  the 
presence  of  its  fumbHngs,  striving  for  our  benefit, 
our  happiness? 

ReHgions  have  only  to  consider  the  oceans  of 
tears  in  which  they  have  nearly  drowned  mankind 
to  be  indulgent  toward  the  morality  of  the  free 
thought  which  is  endeavouring,  in  its  turn,  to 
guide  the  destiny  of  man.  Whatever  we  may  do, 
nothing  will  prevent  the  advent  of  a  more  and 
more  rational  morality,  of  a  faith  more  and  more 
freed  from  the  artless  or  barbarous  notions  which 
are  so  far  beneath  the  man  of  our  times.  The 
essential  thing  is  that  the  evolution  should  take 
place  without  causing  useless  sufferings. 

The  atheism  of  the  present  day,  to  tell  the  truth, 
is  but  a  word.  A  cultivated  man  can  no  longer  pro- 
claim himself  an  atheist  according  to  the  ancient 
definition.  He  can  no  longer  deny  the  influence  of 
the  forces  which  escape  him  and  the  principles  that 
he  ignores.  He  is  distinguished  from  believers  only 
because  his  belief  shows  him  a  different  tenor.  But 
the  atheist,  also,  cannot  exist  without  a  faith,  without 
a  certain  religiousness  in  harmony  with  the  explana- 
tion which  we  have  given  above.     A  man  who  has 


246  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

never  drunk  from  the  springs  of  science  or  one  who 
has  appropriated  from  them  merely  superficial  ideas, 
can  boast  of  being  an  ardent  and  positive  materialist. 
But  the  man  who,  in  good  faith,  has  striven  to  pene- 
trate the  essential  points  of  modern  science,  can  no 
longer  remain  in  harmony  with  either  atheism  or 
materialism  in  their  absolute  meaning  or  in  the  one 
attributed  by  the  common  people.  There  is  a  univer- 
sal law  which  rules  the  entire  cosmic  world.  It  de- 
stroys our  faith  in  matter.  It  concerns  the  sovereign 
law  of  gravitation.  The  myriads  of- worlds  surround- 
ing us,  including  the  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of 
stars  revealed  to  our  wondering  eyes  by  the  perfected 
telescopes,  almost  all  these  stars  controlling  worlds 
often  far  larger  than  our  solar  system,  nevertheless 
are  held  only  by  an  ideal,  spiritual,  and  invisible 
power. 

How  do  all  these  worlds  maintain  their  positions, 
and  perform  their  functions  in  consequence  of  im- 
material forces  and  laws  whose  bearing  and  signifi- 
cation, though  misunderstood  by  us,  nevertheless 
remain  real? 

When  we  descend  from  metaphysical  heights  and 
return  to  the  domain  of  positive  morality,  the  atheists 
find  themselves  singularly  near  to  all  sincere  believers. 

The  supreme  end  of  all  morality,  based  upon 
religion,  or  deprived  of  the  divine  idea,  is  always  the 
same.  Love,  and  make  yourself  beloved,  there  is 
nothing  above  this  principle. 

A  Christian  writer,  not  one  of  the  least  important, 
justly  shows  far  more  sympathy  with  the  atheists 
than  with  the  believers  animated  by  an  automatic 
faith,  for  the  former  have  an  ardour  of  belief,  a  fierce 
love  of  justice  and  of  truth  which  the  second  lack. 


Happiness  for  All  247 

This  is  the  very  reason,  M.  Monod  has  told  us,  that 
modern  atheism  does  not  cease  to  be  reHgious. 

Victor  Hugo  explained  before  Wilfrid  Monod  ^  that 
he  "who  did  not  believe  in  God,  one  and  triune, 
listening  to  harps,  jealous  and  vengeful,  was  never- 
theless a  true  believer,  while  the  priests  who  taught 
God  were  atheists."  And,  for  the  reason  that  the 
man  who  desires  and  works  for  justice,  is  a  religious 
man. 

An  atheist,  to  use  the  term  as  generally  applied, 
would  therefore  be  wrong  to  incriminate  the  aims  of  a 
rehgion  that  leads  the  simple-minded  toward  the 
heights  attained  by  the  elect  of  lay  thought,  just  as 
true  believers  would  commit  a  serious  error  against 
the  higher  interests  of  humanity  by  attacking  in  any 
way,  except  by  persuasion,  the  deep  and  painful 
sorrowful  convictions  that  deprive  certain  anxious 
and  troubled  souls  of  all  repose  in  beliefs. 

Sincere  faith,  moreover,  has  for  its  inevitable 
counterpart  no  less  sincere  doubt. 

The  salvation  of  religious  faith  lies  in  the  reciprocal 
tendencies  these  two  antinomies  have  to  combat. 
The  radiance  of  faith  would  pale  singularly  if  it  could 
not  be  opposed  to  incredulity.  The  latter,  in  its  turn, 
draws  its  strength  from  the  shock  it  receives  from  the 
ardours  of  faith.  The  beneficent  balance  of  mankind 
requires  the  coexistence  of  these  two  factors.  Their 
time-honoured  and  inevitable  companionship  renders 
reciprocal  tolerance  possible  and  necessary. 

Persecutions  and  martyrology  have  never  been  able 
to  destroy  the  development  of  the  free  mind,  but  no 
jeering  at  dogmas  will  ever  conquer  the  need  of  faith 
in  our  hearts. 

^Wilfrid  Monod,  Aux  croyanfs  et  aux  athees. 


248  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Both  may  meet  and  communicate  in  the  same 
domain  of  happiness  which  masters  in  the  same  degree 
a  believer  and  a  sceptic,  a  rehgious  and  an  irrehgious 
man.  Both  are  aiming,  after  all,  toward  justice  and 
happiness.  Some  are  content  with  desiring  to  render 
the  world  a  paradise,  while  others  rejoice  in  possessing 
that  of  the  world  beyond. 

Thus  they  have  in  common  one  ideal  and  one  faith 
— that  of  making  our  existence  nobler.  We  need  only 
purify  faith  and  elevate  scepticism,  and  both  methods 
will  meet  more  and  more  in  common  aspirations 
toward  a  more  and  more  lofty  and  intense  happiness. 
The  best  among  those  who  deny  or  affirm  are  labour- 
ing for  the  same  God  of  justice  and  happiness  whom 
they  call  by  different  names. 

This-  similitude  of  life  and  of  work  asserts  itself  from 
the  very  beginning  of  religions  and  of  free  thought. 
Taine  states  that  Christianity,  after  eighteen  centuries 
of  existence,  is  now  working  in  the  same  way  among 
the  Russian  moujiks  and  the  American  settlers,  as  it 
did  formerly  among  the  artisans  of  Galilee,  in  striving 
to  substitute  for  love  of  self,  the  love  for  others. 

Its  essence,  examined  through  this  vast  region,  has 
not  changed. 

"Beneath  its  Greek,  its  CathoHc,  or  its  Protestant 
envelope,  it  is  still  to  four  hundred  millions  of  human 
creatures  the  spiritual  organ,  the  majestic  pair  of 
wings  which  are  indispensable  to  raise  man  above 
himself." 

Free  thought,  summed  up  in  the  vast  lines  of  its 
evolution,  expresses  at  the  end  of  several  thousands 
of  years,  the  same  guiding  thought. 

This  thought  aims  to  render  man  superior  to  his 
instincts.      The   science   which   develops   outside   of 


Happiness  for  All  249 

religion  has  for  its  object  only  to  furnish  in  its  turn, 
and  at  its  expense,  another  pair  of  beneficent  wings 
to  raise  man  above  his  pitiable  and  miserable 
condition. 

The  doctrine,  the  pedagogy,  and  the  morality  of 
happiness  are  ready  to  furnish  a  common  basis 
for  all  rehgions  and  all  sincere  and  disinterested 
aspirations. 

Within  their  bosom  all  the  flagrant  or  hidden  con- 
tradictions which  appear  to  separate  them  are  found 
to  be  levelled.  The  aspiration  to  that  lofty  happiness 
which,  being  of  altruistic  essence,  alone  is  deep  and 
lasting,  reahses  for  that  very  reason  the  love  for  our 
neighbour  that  constitutes  the  indispensable  and  in- 
evitable ideal  of  all  the  rehgions  and  of  all  the  social 
and  laical  doctrines  worthy  of  this  name. 

Modern  incredulity,  as  well  as  modern  atheism,  is 
distinguished  from  those  of  the  past.  The  most 
positive  rationaHsts  now  admit  the  existence  of 
spiritual  needs  and  eternal  aspirations  toward  the 
infinite.  The  most  convinced  among  them  have 
undergone  the  fate  of  Faust,  of  all  the  Fausts  whom 
humanity  sheltered  during  the  ages.  They  have  dis- 
covered the  need  of  their  souls  to  turn,  at  some  given 
moment,  toward  the  mysteries,  toward  the  noumena 
that  hes  hidden  beneath  each  phenomenon. 

Below  their  reason,  they  perceive  this  whole  vivify- 
ing layer  of  the  sub-conscience  which  feeds  and 
maintains  the  inner  Hfe  to  its  fathomless  depths, 
whence  come  to  us  the  most  spontaneous  of  our 
intuitions  and  of  our  creations. 

Absorbed  by  anxieties  or  by  our  daily  troubles,  we 
forget  its  existence.  But,  having  returned  within 
ourselves,   we  gaze,   troubled  or  marveUing,  at  this 


250  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

domain  of  limitless  frontiers  from  which  rises  in  beauty 
a  mysterious  force. 

There  also  lies  for  us  the  source  of  religious  emotions. 

Their  foundation  is  the  same,  but  their  names  vary. 


Nevertheless  we  endeavour  to  raise  an  impassable 
barrier  between  the  believers  and  the  atheists  by 
opposing  their  doctrines  relative  to  survival. 

Undoubtedly  there  is  nothing  more  delightful  to 
the  human  consciousness  than  the  idea  of  survival. 
Under  its  rudimentary  forms,  it  appears  with  the  first 
rays  of  the  awakening  of  our  intellect.  But  an  insur- 
mountable abyss  also  separates,  in  this  domain,  the 
ancient  notion  of  immortality  from  that  of  our  own 
times. 

The  simple-minded  men  of  ancient  days  were  em- 
pirical. Therefore  they  believed  in  the  reality  of 
symbols,  in  the  actual  life  of  images  and  of  names. 

The  doll  that  rudely  represents  the  human  features 
has  its  own  life.  In  this  quality,  it  can  be  sacrificed 
to  the  gods.  The  names  that  people  bore  also  had  a 
real  existence.  When  they  disappeared  from  the 
memory  of  men  those  whom  they  were  supposed  to 
incarnate  vanished  in  their  turn. 

The  great  reformer  of  Egypt,  Amen-Hotep  IV, 
wishing  to  destroy  the  divinities  of  his  country,  de- 
stroyed first  of  all  their  statues  and  the  names  in- 
scribed upon  these.  The  iconoclasts,  who  amaze  us 
to  such  a  degree,  were  only  logical  people.  They 
acted  in  conformity  with  the  ideas  of  their  times.  On 
that  very  account  the  future  life  was  limited  to  the 
duration  of  the  images  or  of  the  memory  left  among 
the  living.     Thus   the  negroes   believed  in  the  life 


Happiness  for  A.11  251 

beyond  the  grave  of  their  father,  whose  deeds  and 
movements  they  remembered,  but  they  did  not  be- 
lieve in  that  of  their  ancestors  of  whom  they  v/ere 
entirely  ignorant.  "Whoever  has  his  name  spoken, 
lives,  and  if  another  sees  that  you  are  doing  this  for 
me,  he  will  also  do  it  for  you,"  runs  an  inscription 
found  upon  the  temple  of  Horus  at  Edfu.  ^ 

The  future  life  consists  in  a  brutal  and  material 
prolongation  of  life  here  on  earth.  Imbued  with  these 
materialist  conceptions,  the  ancients  saw  in  immortal- 
ity merely  the  continuation  of  the  terrestrial  existence. 
Only,  exhausted  by  fatigue,  that  of  the  other  world 
became  a  pallid  image,  lacking  warmth  and  love,  a 
life  of  shadow.  This  is  why  the  Greeks,  in  spite  of  the 
varied  appearances  which  they  had  succeeded  in 
grafting  upon  the  primitive  idea  of  death,  had  no 
inclination  for  existence  beyond  the  grave. 

The  typical  saying  of  Achilles,  that  he  would  rather 
be  the  slave  of  a  poor  man  on  earth  than  to  reign  over 
a  kingdom  in  the  other  world,  incarnates  all  the  fears 
and  all  the  hopes  of  the  Greeks. 

Our  ideas  of  immortality  have  changed  greatly 
with  the  course  of  time.  How  numerous  have  been 
the  lofty  additions  that  render  it  more  spiritual, 
especially  more   desirable. 

The  soul  being  no  longer  identical  with  the  body, 
and  the  mind  being  independent  of  space,  immortality 
is  emancipated  from  the  infirmities  and  the  decrepi- 
tude of  our  material  envelope.  Again  attached  to  the 
system  of  our  mind  it  hovers  above  our  religious  con- 
ceptions, and  even  displays  an  infinite  variety  of  forms 

^  See  among  others:  Ranke,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Aegyptische  Sprache 
und  Alter thnms-Kunde,  1907 ;  Maspero,  "La  religion  egyptienne," 
Revue  de  Vhistoire  des  religions  (6th  year),  etc. 


252  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

beneath  which  it  takes  shelter.  But  all  these  forms 
have  the  same  purpose,  which  consists  in  diminishing 
our  sufferings  here  on  earth,  and  in  opening  to  our 
hopes  infinite  horizons. 

The  spiritualisation  of  the  essence  of  immortality 
renders  the  conciliation  of  doctrines  more  and  more 
easy.  Yet  we  should  do  wrong  to  seek  to  impose  it  as 
a  simple  dogma.  Faith  in  immortality,  as  well  as  its 
favourite  form,  is  only  the  product  of  our  personal 
consciousness.  Mankind  has  dispensed  with  them  for 
ages.  The  loftiest  consciences  succeeded  in  existing 
without  the  aid  of  faith  in  immortality,  as  the  most 
admirable  and  the  most  moral  men  will  be  able  to 
develop  without  its  assistance. 

We  may  cite  a  thinker  Hke  John  Stuart  Mill,  who 
was  at  the  same  time  the  most  honest  of  men,  to  whom 
the  idea  of  eternity  was  even  odious. 

He  tells  us  that,  in  a  higher  and  especially  a  happier 
existence,  it  would  not  be  annihilation,  but  immortal- 
ity, whose  idea  would  become  unbearable.  The  man 
who  is  well  satisfied  with  the  present,  and  in  no  haste 
to  leave  it,  would  nevertheless  be  sincerely  distressed 
by  the  thought  that  he  was  chained  through  eternity 
to  a  life  which  he  would  not  be  sure  of  desiring  always 
to  retain. 

The  more  and  more  strongly  marked  variety  of  doc- 
trines and  their  emancipation  from  the  ruder  articles 
of  faith,  when  these  are  not  in  harmony  with  the 
elementary  data  of  good  sense  and  of  knowledge,  have 
resulted  in  softening  the  English  who,  in  former  times, 
separated  the  atheists  from  the  believers. 

A  closer  connection,  based  upon  a  reciprocal  under- 
standing, is  also  showing  itself  in  this  domain  among 
fair-minded  men.    True  behevers  are  permitting  them- 


Happiness  for  A.11  253 

selves  to  be  influenced  more  and  more  by  Reason,  as 
sceptics  and  atheists  are  affected  by  the  spiritual 
sides  of  our  aspirations  and  of  our  life. 


The  new  conceptions  of  the  infinitely  great  and  of 
the  infinitely  little,  which  fill  all  the  exact  sciences, 
have  singularly  broadened  the  horizon  of  our  ideas. 
The  infinite  has  entered  into  our  calculations,  occupy- 
ing our  visions,  and  for  that  very  reason,  animating 
our  hopes. 

Our  most  intelligent  ancestors,  in  many  respects, 
had  the  ideas  of  the  simple-minded  men  of  our  days. 
The  geographical  or  astronomical  notions  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  would  make  a  schoolboy  ten  years 
old  smile. 

We  see  much  more  broadly,  and  much  farther.  In 
proportion  as  our  imagination  widens  its  vision, 
boundless  regions  open  before  it.  By  the  aid  of 
several  units  formerly  unknown,  we  measure  and 
weigh  the  phenomena  of  the  solar  world.  Thanks  to 
the  micron,  that  is,  the  thousandth  part  of  a  milH- 
metre,  or  to  the  light-year,  that  is,  the  distance  which 
light  traverses  in  a  year  (its  speed  per  second,  however, 
is  three  hundred  thousand  kilometers) ,  we  are  trying 
to  attain  through  our  imagination  the  extreme  fron- 
tiers of  the  real,  and  we  thus  obtain  singularly  dis- 
turbing facts.  Our  pen  mechanically  records  them, 
but  our  powerless  brain  refuses  to  understand  them 
and  to  grasp  their  immensity. 

Think,  for  instance,  that  the  distance  traversed  by 
the  Hght  which  reaches  us  from  one  of  the  stars  that 
is  nearest  to  our  earth  is  equal,  during  a  single  year, 
to  about  ten  thousand  thousand  milhons  of  kilometers. 


254  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

The  number  of  drops  of  water  contained  in  all  the 
seas  of  the  globe,  is  estimated  by  oceanographic 
science  at  about  thirteen  hundred  millions  of  cubic 
centimeters.  Let  us  try  to  decompose  this  figure.  A 
cubic  centimeter  contains  a  thousand  millions  of 
cubic  meters,  and  a  cubic  meter,  in  its  turn,  contains 
a  thousand  million  cubic  millimeters. 

Our  imagination  pauses  in  consternation.  Yet  the 
matter  in  question  concerns  only  our  own  planet,  a  mere 
drop  of  water  or  mud  in  the  economy  of  the  universe. 

Here  is  another  example:  It  has  been  discovered 
that  infinitesimal  quantities  of  metallic  salts  corre- 
sponding to  a  ten  millionth  of  a  milligramme  per 
quart  still  act  upon  lactic  fermentation.  Now,  in  a 
quart  of  fermenting  milk,  there  are  about  a  hundred 
thousand  millions  of  cells.  The  result  is  that  we  have 
to  deal  with  fractions  of  grammes  in  which  there 
would  be  twenty-five  noughts ! 

The  boldest  calculation  dares  not  approach  certain 
operations.  Vertigo  or  utter  lack  of  comprehension 
thus  brings  our  reflections  to  a  close. 

So  the  idea  of  the  infinite  is  deepened  and  broadened 
in  every  direction.  As  fast  as  our  comprehension 
embraces  more  and  more  impenetrable  horizons,  it 
finds  itself  compelled  to  admit  experimentally  the 
reality  of  incomprehensible  forces  and  the  existence  of 
an  unknown  Power,  whose  grandeur  and  whose  depth, 
surpassing  the  most  stupendous  resources  of  our  intel- 
lect, command  Faith,  because  in  their  indefinite  form, 
they  arise  only  from  our  Faith. 

Behind  the  inconceivable  world  of  the  present, 
there  lies  one  still  more  inaccessible  to  our  mind,  the 
world  of  yesterday,  the  world  of  incalculable  ages 
already  past  and  of  incalculable  ages  to  come. 


Happiness  for  All  255 

Bottomless,  boundless  gulfs  are  waiting  on  all  sides 
for  the  thought  which  would  fain  venture  into  their 
depths.  The  combinations  of  worlds  and  of  phe- 
nomena realised,  in  process  of  realisation,  or  in  view 
of  being  realised,  exceed  even  the  power  of  our  figures. 

We  imagine  with  difficulty  a  magnitude  attaining 
fifty  figures  side  by  side  in  a  line. 

Let  us  think,  for  example,  that  the  entire  mass  of 
the  earth  expressed  in  kilogrammes  of  its  weight  does 
not  exceed  twenty-five  figures  and  the  number  of 
drops  of  water  contained  in  all  the  seas  about  thirty. 
Now,  the  probability  of  combinations  of  forces  and 
of  the  phenomena  of  nature  probably  surpasses 
thousands  of  millions  of  figures. 

I  have  calculated  elsewhere  the  different  ways  of 
seating  guests  around  a  table.  The  placing  of  twelve 
persons  can  give  occasion  for  five  hundred  million 
combinations;  that  of  fourteen  presents  ninety-one 
thousands  of  millions,  and  the  seating  of  fifteen, 
1,350,000,000,000. 

But  nature  presents  myriads  of  elements.  What 
would  then  be  the  number  of  possible  combinations? 

We  can  answer  again  only  by  the  Infinite.  The 
Infinite,  which  outstrips  all  the  possibilities  of  our 
comprehension  and  consequently  our  ideas,  our 
dreams,  and  our  aspirations. 

This  Infinite  imposes  itself  upon  our  Faith,  because 
it  imposes  itself  upon  and  pervades  our  Reason. 

Call  it:  Jupiter,  Jehovah,  Providence,  Nature,  God 
the  Father,  or  Force.  What  does  that  matter!  The 
point  in  question  is  always  a  simple  Faith. 

No  human  intellect  can  cast  it  out,  and  the  more 
reflective,  the  more  scientific  it  is,  the  more  it  will  be- 
lieve, and  the  more  it  will  be  imbued  with  this  Faith. 


256  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

The  Unknowable  or  the  Mysterious  which  guides 
the  believers  also  guides  the  scientists.  More  im- 
patient in  his  deductions,  the  believer  stops  midway. 
He  puts  a  period  where  the  scientific  searcher  places 
only  a  comma.  His  sentence  is  finished,  his  horizon 
is  narrowed,  because  he  has  set  at  the  end  of  his 
anxieties  a  series  of  dogmas. 

The  seeker  continues  to  work,  though  knowing  in 
advance  that  the  mystery  thrust  farther  into  the 
distance  will  not  cease  on  that  account  to  be  a  mystery. 

The  Infinite  not  closed  is  the  free  or  emancipated 
mind,  is  our  spirituality  more  and  more  purified  and 
elevated.  The  problem  of  our  Intellect  is  thus 
identified  with  the  problem  of  the  Infinite. 

With  man  thus  grown  loftier,  mystery  finds  itself 
more  honoured,  for  it  transports  and  accompanies  us 
into  the  infinity  of  the  suns,  into  the  infinity  of 
thought,  into  the  infinity  of  hopes,  into  the  boundless 
divinity  that  fills  the  world  and  our  destinies. 

As  man  forms  a  portion  of  the  universe,  in  his  turn 
he  is  deified  and  immortalised.  He  will  undergo  the 
fate  of  the  universe,  the  fate  of  the  God-Force  which 
completely  penetrates  him. 

Into  the  undefined  and  limitless  Faith  of  the  man 
of  science  returns  the  narrowed  Faith  of  the  man  of 
dogmas.  As  the  forest  incorporates  the  trees  which 
compose  it,  so  philosophical  or  scientific  Faith  ex- 
presses the  multiplicity  of  religions  and  of  crystallised 
dogmas. 

Moreover:  All  the  shades  of  the  religions  termed 
positive  or  revealed  mingle  in  this  general  one,  as  the 
waters  of  the  rivers  disperse  in  the  ocean. 

The  atheism  of  former  days  has  lost  its  cause  for 
existence.    It  has  come  to  die  on  the  threshold  of  the 


Happiness  for  A.11  257 

belief  in  the  Infinite,  or  if  we  prefer,  of  the  Great  All, 
of  the  Great  Force,  or  of  the  Great  Mystery. 

With  progress,  dogmatic  faiths  having  softened 
their  angles  and  brought  their  dogmas  into  harmony 
with  the  modern  conscience,  will  end  by  being,  in 
their  turn,  summed  up  into  a  more  and  more  vague 
and  ideal  faith. 

They  will  lose  their  stamp  of  concrete  affirmation 
and  assume  the  common  tonality  of  the  faith  that 
animates  all  thinking  beings. 

Dying  atheism  and  vanishing  religious  fanaticism 
are  only  the  prelude  of  that  triumphal  symphony  of 
the  human  Faith  of  the  future,  which  will  be  summed 
up  in  the  same  awe  of  and  the  same  longing  for  the 
Infinite. 

Then  there  will  be  little  regard  for  the  "  accessories  " 
which  divide  revealed  religions  from  the  one  estab- 
lished by  the  study  and  the  observation  of  the 
universe. 

True  science  confines  itself  to  proclaiming  the  spirit- 
uality of  faith,  but  the  believer  seeks  to  materialise  it 
and  incarnate  it  under  forms  accessible  to  his  mind. 

The  characters  find  themselves  singularly  reversed. 
The  religious  man  is  thus  becoming  a  "materialist," 
and  the  man  of  science  remains  an  "idealist."  This 
result,  apparently  paradoxical,  singularly  illumines 
the  recriminations  and  the  quarrels  which  separate 
the  two  camps,  and  preaches  to  them  the  necessity 
of  a  mutual  understanding  that  will  be  more  just,  for 
while  the  crust  that  surrounds  their  souls  appears  to 
distinguish  them,  a  core  of  Faith  nevertheless  unites 
them,  under  the  banner  of  the  Unknown,  the  supreme 
object  of  their  aspirations  which  they  do  not  cease  to 
have  in  common. 


258  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

VIII.  History  is  only  an  incessant  tradition. 
We  pass  from  certain  conditions  of  moral  and 
material  existence  to  other  moral  and  material 
conditions.  This  change  constitutes  the  essence 
of  progress,  and  we  easily  accommodate  ourselves 
to  it,  when  the  passage  is  made  in  an  imperceptible 
manner. 

But  there  are  also  acute  crises.  Under  an  in- 
ward pressure  of  events,  we  rush  in  all  haste  toward 
new  quarters.     This  change  startles  peaceful  souls. 

Misoneism,  or  hatred  of  innovation,  sleeps  un- 
suspected in  the  human  mind.  Awakened,  it 
defends  itself  by  all  the  means  within  its  reach. 
We  shut  ourselves  up  in  the  old  abodes;  we  re- 
plaster  the  walls ;  we  even  stuff  the  holes  through 
which  the  new  light  threatens  to  filter.  More 
conciliatory  occupants,  on  the  other  hand,  try  to 
repaint  their  dwellings  in  conformity  with  the 
taste  of  the  day. 

These  are  the  epochs  of  great  and  small  revolu- 
tions. Consciences  are  darkened.  They  vainly 
seek  their  way.  The  conflict  sharpens  minds  and 
renders  them  hateful  and  implacable.  Gradually 
the  light  breaks  forth,  for  truth  has  a  peerless 
power  of  penetratioji.  Thus  it  is  that  monarchies 
accept  the  intervention  of  the  people  in  the  govern- 
ment, and  religions  that  of  reason  in  the  dogmas. 


Happiness  for  A.11  259 

Is  it  necessary  to  drag  recalcitrant  spirits  by 
force  toward  the  new  abode?  For  what  purpose 
if  the  house,  irremediably  condemned,  must, 
sooner  or  later,  be  vacated?  A  struggle  to  the 
bitter  end  could  only  increase  the  suffering.  Let 
us  permit  minds  to  work  freely,  and  progress  to 
operate  by  the  power  of  truth. 

Let  us  preach  calmness  and  reconciliation;  for 
human  passions  are  in  any  case  doing  and  will  do 
their  work.  They  are  hastening  the  imminent 
victory  of  ideas,  by  suffering.  It  is  the  part  of 
noble  minds  to  lessen  the  extent  and  the  bitterness 
of  this  suffering,  for  tolerance,  that  sensible 
patience,  is  the  exclusive  virtue  of  sages. 

IX.  Everything  tends  to  the  belief  that  these 
struggles  will  be  made  more  and  more  under 
conditions  of  mutual  esteem.  Indulgence,  the 
natural  fruit  of  comprehension  will  soften  all 
extravagance  in  the  ardour  of  the  combatants. 
It  will  console  the  vanquished  and  will  teach  the 
victors  comprehensive  kindness.  The  most  re- 
presentative champions  of  free  thought  have  them- 
selves given  examples  of  moderation.  Kant  has 
not  ventured  to  place  his  "  categorical  imperative'* 
outside  of  the  future  life.  "  Like  a  simple  Savoy- 
ard vicar,"  remarked  Paul  Stapfer,  "he  concluded 
that  the  harmony  between  virtue  and  happiness, 


26o  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

not  being  realised  here  below,  must  be  offered  to 
our  hope  in  heaven."  Ernest  Renan  jeered  at  the 
illusions  of  independent  morality.  "By  dint  of 
chimeras,"  he  tells  us,  "we  have  succeeded  in 
obtaining  from  the  good  gorilla  a  surprising  moral 
effort."  But  he  did  not  see  how,  "without  the 
ancient  dreams,  we  could  succeed  in  rebuilding 
the  foundations  of  a  noble  and  happy  life."  "  It 
is  necessary  to  maintain,"  he  tells  us  elsewhere, 
"in  addition  to  the  fatherland  and  the  family, 
an  institution  from  which  the  soul  may  receive 
nourishment,  consolation,  counsels,  an  institution 
where  may  be  found  spiritual  teachers,  a  director : 
that  institution  is  the  Church. " 

The  virus  of  the  seminary  probably  speaks 
through  the  lips  of  Pvcnan.  His  imagination,  nour- 
ished by  the  intoxicating  charms  of  the  Church, 
did  not  conceive  of  life  without  its  aid.  "Without 
it,"  he  asserted,  "life  would  become  dishearten- 
ingly  arid,  especially  to  women."  Herbert  Spencer 
sought  salvation  in  the  reconciliation  of  religion 
and  science. 

Spencer's  illusion  is  that  of  the  great  majority 
of  thinkers  of  every  age.  It  is  easily  explained. 
We  may  note  first  that  the  origins  of  science  and  of 
religion  appear  to  be  the  same.     Both  owe  their 


Happiness  for  All  261 

birth  to  the  reaction  of  the  world  upon  our  minds, 
our  souls ;  both  have  for  their  object  principles  which 
are  incomprehensible,  unknowable,  and  beyond  the 
range  of  thought.  Religion  has  the  absolute; 
science  has,  among  other  things,  space  and  time. 

The  history  of  philosophy  is  only  a  series  of 
efforts  aiming  to  realise  the  harmony  between 
science  and  religion.  From  the  Greeks,  Vv^ho 
believed  that  they  perceived  the  same  divine 
reason  working  in  both  domains,  passing  by  the 
scholastic  doctrines,  which  preached  the  identity 
of  their  objects  and  their  methods,  and  ending 
with  the  philosophers  of  our  own  times,  who  believe 
in  the  inevitable  harmony  between  science,  the 
product  of  intelligence,  and  religion,  the  product  of 
feeling,  how  many  schools  and  thinkers  have  been 
toiling  to  prepare,  to  explain,  and  to  realise  the 
friendly  harmony  between  the  two!  Yet  this 
harmony  is  far  from  being  concluded. 

August  Comte's  effort  is  doubtless  one  of  the 
most  characteristic.  In  wishing  to  make  religion 
the  crown  of  science,  and  to  erect  its  proud  and 
powerful  kingdom  opposite  that  of  science,  he 
has  only  narrowed  the  limits  of  both.  Religion 
and  science  come  forth  singularly  disfigured  and 
curtailed.  Their  boundaries  are  found  to  be 
arbitrarily    violated    and    marked.     Science    sees 


262  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

itself  delivered  over  to  the  domination  of  emotion,. 
and  sinks  to  the  level  of  a  province  conquered  by 
religion. 

As  to  religion,  it  becomes  in  its  turn  the  victim, 
if  not  the  slave,  of  mankind,  a  condition  which  to 
Comte  is  the  gauge  and  the  end  of  everything.  A 
poor  wandering  shade,  it  goes  from  the  actual 
to  the  useful,  and  from  the  useful  to  the  actual, 
the  heaven  and  the  promised  land  of  positivist 
philosophy. 

X.  Nearer  to  us,  William  James,  with  his 
pragmatist  doctrine  or  religious  experience,  has 
also  tried  to  realise  this  harmony.  He  has  ad- 
vanced farther  than  his  predecessors.  Does  he 
not  claim  for  religions  the  character  of  a  science? 
Knowledge  dictated  by  the  heart  has  for  him  the 
same  weight  as  knowledge  resulting  from  experi- 
ence. After  all,  religion  is  also  an  experience. 
Aided  by  a  warm  and  ingenious  dialectic,  James  is 
trying  to  identify  feeling,  the  subjective  principle 
of  the  religions,  with  scientific  experience,  from 
which  personality  is  banished. 

Do  not  mathematicians  study  the  same  facts 
by  the  path  of  infinitesimal  calculus,  and  that  of 
geometrical  analysis?.  Why,  asks  James,  can  we 
not  study  the  phenomena  which  surround  us  by 
both  the  scientific  and  the  religious  methods? 


Happiness  for  All  263 

The  American  philosopher  forgets  that  a  scienti- 
fic demonstration  means  the  demonstration  of  a 
truth  visible  to  and  comprehensible  by  all  who  are 
placed  under  the  same  conditions.  A  religious 
experience  or  truth  always  remains  personal. 
Admitting  their  objectivity,  it  would  be  necessary, 
at  the  same  time,  to  banish  the  sacred  princi- 
ples of  tolerance.  Religious  truth  having  become 
impersonal,  having  become  an  objective  truth,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  impose  it  upon  every  one. 
We  should  not  have,  however,  the  right  to  re- 
spect the  so-called  asserted  truth  or  the  falsehood 
of  the  others. 

Now,  what  saves  religious  experience,  if  experi- 
ence there  is,  is  precisely  that,  being  the  product 
of  feeling  or  of  individual  sensation,  it  is  not 
demonstrable.  It  binds  the  person  who  sees  it  in 
a  certain  way,  without  disturbing  the  repose  of 
his  neighbours. 

James,  however,  believes  that  he  has  found  in  it 
a  true  scientific  basis.  By  relying  upon  the  sub- 
liminal self,  that  second  consciousness,  which, 
according  to  Myers,  would  be  possessed  by  every 
human  sou]  (the  double),  he  declares  that  man, 
thanks  to  thic  supplementary  consciousness,  finds, 
himself  in  relations  with  another  world  and  other 
beings  superior  to  those  we  have  before  our  eyes. 


264  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

And  this  sphere  of  action,  thus  based  upon  a 
positive  (?)  fact,  would  be  reserved  for  religion. 

We  see  how  unscientific  is  this  science.  The 
phenomena  described  by  Myers  also  show  not 
infrequently  and  very  distinctly  the  traces  of 
pathological  disturbances.  The  most  significant 
ones  cited  by  the  author  of  Human  Personality 
enter  the  category  of  the  facts  observed  by  psy- 
chologists, under  the  name  of  psychological  autom- 
atism. This  automatism  does  not  create  new 
syntheses;  it  is  only  the  result  of  a  psychic  ac- 
tivity which  had  already  existed,  and  by  which  it 
is  almost  always  accompanied.  Many  phenomena 
which  kindle  the  imagination  of  James  have  been 
recorded  and  studied  by  the  alienists.  We  do 
not  yet  know  them  very  well  and,  at  any  rate,  not 
sufficiently  to  entrust  to  them  the  direction  of  the 
religious  sovereignty.  ^ 

Nevertheless,  William  James  continues  to  con- 

*  Let  us  recall  this  fact,  many  times  confirmed.  While  scien- 
tists and  philosophers  such  as  Richet,  Lombroso,  or  Myers,  set  out 
from  spiritualism  in  search  of  the  "multiple  ego,"  psychologists 
also  reach  it  in  a  direct  line  by  studying  natural  or  artificial 
somnambulism;  physicians  by  examining  neuropaths  and 
hysterical  persons,  and  alienists,  disaggregation  of  the  personal- 
ity. The  morbidness  and  the  mystery  accompanying  it  are  thus 
invading  the  field  of  the  subliminal  consciousness.  It  is  becom- 
ing hazardous,  from  the  scientific  standpoint,  and  unseemly 
from  the  religious  one,  to  seek  to  erect  a  scientific  religion  upon 
ground  so  uncertain. 


Happiness  for  All  265 

fuse  the  modernists  and  a  large  portion  of  the  in- 
tellectual youth  of  both  continents.  His  doctrine 
preaches  to  souls  the  beauty  and  the  truth  of  the 
integral  life  by  which  the  modem  conscience  is 
assauged.  He  attracts  by  his  quasi-scientific 
varnish  and  disarms  by  his  ardent  desire  to  diffuse 
peace  and  happiness  through  religion. 

But  pragmatism  will  soon  cease  to  act,  like 
intoxicating  music  which,  after  having  deeply 
stirred  our  hearts,  vanishes  without  leaving  any 
recollection. 

XL  The  more  we  reflect  upon  so  many  abort- 
ive attempts,  the  more  we  perceive  the  futility  of 
these  efforts.  Men  have  desired  to  reconcile  ir- 
reconcilable things.  Religions,  born  of  an  eternal 
necessity  of  the  soul,  remain  unassailable,  so  long 
as  they  are  enclosed  within  its  bounds.  ReHgions 
in  a  state  of  religiousness  have  nothing  to  fear  and 
nothing  to  expect  from  science.  Transformed  into 
dogmatic  religions,  they  undergo  necessarily  the 
dangers  of  the  religious  evolution.  After  having 
grown  through  the  centuries  and  having  wandered 
through  the  world,  the  dogmatic  reHgions,  urged 
by  dogmas  and  rites,  will  return  toward  their 
cradle,  and,  sooner  or  later,  will  be  merged  into  the 
reHgiousness  which  gave  them  birth.  Science  will 
then  have  only  to  bow  before  the  principles  which 


266  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

animate  them  and  the  domain  which  naturally 
remains  closed.  There  will  be  no  need  of  preaching 
harmony.  It  will  take  shape  through  its  own 
volition,  and  nothing  will  have  power  to  disturb 
its  reign. 

From  that  time,  the  dogmatic  religions  and 
science  can  live  in  a  union  of  reason  and  inter- 
est, independent  of  any  theoretical  attempt  to 
reconcile  their  irreconcilable  principles. 

XII.  When  a  reflective  mind  confronts  all 
these  doubts,  it  understands  the  injustice  of  per- 
secuting the  ancient  dogmas.  However  erroneous 
they  may  be, 'they  have  been  man's  companions  for 
ages.  They  have  cost  him  much  suffering,  but 
they  have  procured  him  many  joys.  Perhaps 
they  have  done  more:  they  have  produced  the 
truths  of  which  he  is  so  proud.  Like  the  aged 
parents  whom  advanced  age  has  rendered  insane 
or  imbecile,  they  have  a  right,  nevertheless,  to  our 
respect.  We  no  longer  listen  to  their  counsels,  we 
liberate  ourselves  from  their  government,  but  it 
would  be  unjust  to  ill-treat  or  scornfully  cast  them 
aside. 

After  all,  death  is  their  fate  and  their  right. 
When  the  fruit  attains  maturity,  nothing  can 
prevent  it  from  leaving  the  tree  which  it  burdens 
by  its  presence.     The  rising  sap  of  science  and  of 


Happiness  for  All  267 

good  sense  thus  avoids  the  necessity  of  torturing 
the  branches  bending  under  the  weight  of  the 
absurd. 

Let  us  be  indulgent  to  the  old  prejudices  or  the 
dying  dogmas,  and  let  us  open  our  souls  to  the  new 
truths;  let  us  be  respectful  to  the  religions  which 
are  passing  and  place  confidence  in  the  religious- 
ness which  will  some  day  replace  these.  The  times 
are  close  at  hand  when  mankind,  united  in  religi- 
ousness, will  draw  from  it  reasons  for  peace  and 
happiness.  For  the  dogmatic  religions  are  dis- 
integrating. To  see  how  far  they  can  go,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  observe  the  spirit  of  renewal  by 
which  they  are  animated.  The  moral  progress 
must  be  discounted,  not  by  unity  of  years,  but 
by  unity  of  generations.  When  we  think  of  the 
aspirations  which  have  stirred  all  the  organised 
denominations,  since  the  first  Congress  of  ReHgions, 
we  believe  ourselves  authorised  to  make  the  bold- 
est conjectures.  Yes,  the  religions  are  losing  more 
and  more,  along  the  path  of  their  evolution,  the 
dogmas  and  the  rites  which  keep  them  apart. 
They  are  purifying  and  deifying  themselves  in 
moving  toward  religiousness,  the  common  domain 
of  all  men  who  cannot  and  will  not  dispense  with 
questioning  nature  concerning  those  things  upon 
which  science  will  probably  never  explain. 


268  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

XIII.     We  may  sum  up  as  follows : 

What  is  religiousness?  It  is  reduced  to  the 
indefinite  relations  between  our  personality  and  the 
infinite.  Religiousness  is  necessarily  individual- 
istic. Refusing  to  be  fettered  by  dogmas  or  rites, 
religiousness  admits  neither  church,  nor  doctrine, 
nor  priesthood.  In  its  bosom,  vast  as  that  of 
the  universe,  may  meet  in  mutual  respect  all 
souls  that  are  conscious  of  the  eternal  mystery  and 
that  are  in  relation  with  the  Infinite.  The  pur- 
port of  these  relations  is  nothing,  the  primordial 
fact  of  their  existence  is  everything. 
'  Religiousness  is  in  harmony  with  all  the  sincere 
religions,  which,  insensibly,  merge  within  its 
boundaries.  Religiousness  is  in  every  religion. 
We  can  move  the  feet  without  running,  but  we 
cannot  run  without  moving  the  feet.  It  is 
impossible  to  be  really  religious  without  having 
religiousness,  but  we  may  have  religiousness  with- 
out being  affiliated  with  any  religion.  Thus 
understood,  religiousness  will  contribute  to  the 
happiness  of  thinking  men  of  the  future,  as  it 
now  procures  happiness  for  the  thinking  men  of 
our  own  times. 

We  have  some  difficulty  in  imagining  our  future 
under  this  aspect.  A  humanity  whose  members 
will  not  make  each  other  mutually  suffer  and  bleed 


Happiness  for  All  269 

on  account  of  the  difference  in  their  religious 
feelings,  appears  inconceivable.  Such  a  condition 
of  things  would  undoubtedly  mark  the  approach 
toward  a  real  golden  age.  This  eventuality  sur- 
prises us  the  more  because  we  believe  wrongly 
that  the  Golden  Age  lies  behind  instead  of  before 
us.  Yet  human  endeavours  would  be  incon- 
ceivable, if  not  stupid,  did  we  not  advance  toward 
a  happiness  ever  greater  and  more  intense.  Our 
sorrows,  our  conflicts,  and  our  sufferings  are 
paving  the  way  for  the  birth  of  a  new  man. 
Like  the  bronze  which  appears  in  beauty  amid  the 
flames  and  refuse  of  the  casting,  religiousness,  we 
do  not  doubt,  will  disengage  itself,  pure  and  majes- 
tic, from  the  age-old  clutch  of  dogmas  and  religions. 

XIV.  Religions  may  thus  grow  weaker.  They 
may  even  disappear,  but  religiousness,  that  is, 
the  aspiration  tow^ard  the  things  which  are  not 
always  of  this  world,  will  remain  the  eternal 
companion  of  the  thinking  being.  The  thirst  for 
the  ideal  is  inherent  in  man,  and  a  normal  soul 
cannot  dispense  with  it,  any  more  than  a  normal 
body  can  live  without  a  certain  quantity  of  oxygen. 

Man,  according  to  Boutroux,  is  a  very  peculiar 
being  who  aspires  to  surpass  himself.  He  will 
return  to  the  path  of  religiousness  when  he  seriously 
aims  to  do  so. 


270  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

That  which  facilitates  this  ascent  outside  of 
ourselves  and  far  beyond  the  limits  of  our  body, 
is  the  soul,  the  intellect,  a  force  that  "bestows 
more  than  it  contains,  restores  more  than  it  re- 
ceives, and  gives  more  than  it  has,"  said  Bergson 
in  his  turn. 

We  place  in  juxtaposition  these  two  affirmations 
emanating  from  the  two  leaders  of  contemporary 
philosophy  for  the  express  purpose  of  showing  how 
unanimous  are  the  influential  minds  of  the  present 
day  in  justifying  the  aspirations  and  the  solid 
foundation  of  our  religious  speculations. 

Philosophical  materialism  has  itself  become 
idealistic.  Matter  without  mind  is  no  more 
conceivable  than  the  body  without  the  living 
soul.  We  are  understanding  more  and  more  that 
the  divine  kingdom  lies  within  us.  Like  all  the 
genuine  sources  of  happiness,  it  is  at  the  disposal 
of  the  entire  world.  The  human  conscience, 
broadened  and  deepened,  opens  to  us  the  paradise 
of  which  we  have  so  long  dreamed.  We  are  per- 
ceiving better  and  better  that  we  all  hold  within  us 
divinity,  as  divinity  embraces  us  all.  The  fish 
swimming  in  the  sea  have  the  sea  in  themselves. 
We  live  in  divinity,  and  a  god  dwells  in  us  all. 

There  are  souls  that  vegetate  or  slumber,  and 
this  god  also  remains  slumbering  in  the  depths  of 


Happiness  for  All  271 

their   consciences.     But   we   need   only   have   a 

thinking  soul  to  see  within  that  soul  a  god.  Let 
us  respect  him  in  others,  in  order  that  the  one  in 
us  may  be  respected.  This  is  the  essential  con- 
dition of  the  peaceful  evolution  toward  happiness 
through  religiousness,  the  common  and  natural 
shelter  of  all  human  consciences. 


VI 

A  FEW  CATECHISMS  OF  HAPPINESS 

I.  The  reception  was  a  most  brilliant  one. 
Around  the  hostess,  whose  drawing-room  was 
noted  as  the  gathering-place  of  all  whom  Paris 
numbered  as  celebrities  in  the  domain  of  literature 
and  of  art,  there  were  grouped,  on  this  evening, 
several  men  of  much  renown  in  the  world  of 
intellect.  Heaven  and  earth, — incidentally  Para- 
dise,— were  being  discussed.  It  was  a  regular 
tilt  of  swift  repartees,  witty  sayings,  subtle  com- 
ments. A  tinge  of  pleasant  malice,  under  a  varnish 
of  toleration,  dominated  this  tournament. 

A  young  man,  striving  to  attract  attention, 
uttered  several  clever  witticisms.  His  musical 
voice  and  lively  remarks  won  universal  approval. 

' '  Where  did  he  come  from  ?     What  does  he  do  ? '  * 

He  had  received  point-blank  the  most  expres- 
sive— because  silent — flattery,  and  his  desire  to 
shine,  to  emerge  from  obscurity,  was  aroused.     His 

eloquence,  lashed  by  his  first  successes,  made  him 

272 


j\  Fe^w  CatecKisixis  of  Happiness  273 

take  giddy  leaps.  He  did  not  notice  the  weariness 
of  his  Hsteners,  the  amused  faces  of  his  rivals. 
Gradually,  recovering  his  senses,  he  perceived  that 
the  game  was  lost.  By  a  few  new  turns,  he  tried 
again  to  win  the  battle.  But  the  charm  was 
broken.  Fifteen  minutes  later,  the  brilliant  minds 
were  gathered  in  another  corner  of  the  drawing- 
room.  One  felt  in  the  surrounding  atmosphere 
the  anguish  of  a  destiny  on  the  eve  of  extinction. 
A  growing  reputation  had  just  been  laid  to  rest. 

Before  our  eyes  had  been  unfolded  one  of  the 
numerous  little  dramas  of  the  drawing-room. 
They  have  their  profound  melancholy  and  their 
deep  sadness.  Well-poised  minds  will  express 
doubt  over  an  incident  unworthy  of  stirring  their 
sensibility.  Yet  nothing,  in  itself,  is  either  great 
or  small.  All  depends  upon  our  own  conception 
of  things.  In  the  eyes  of  this  whole  little  world, 
the  point  in  question  was  an  irremediable  cata- 
strophe. The  victim  was  suffering.  His  face  was 
contracted  with  pain,  and  his  eyes  were  dimmed. 

We  left  the  company  together.  The  unfortun- 
ate fellow  walked  with  drooping  head.  He  was 
humbled  and  prostrated,  like  a  gambler  who  has 
lost  his  last  stake. 

"How  sparkling  your  mind  is!"  I  said  to  him. 

He  looked  at  me  doubtfully.     Was  he  dealing 

18 


274  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

with  a  malicious  joker,  or  a  benevolent  connoisseur? 
People  are  always  connoisseurs,  when  they  know 
how  to  appreciate  our  gifts  and  talents. 

I  held  out  my  hand  to  him. 

"Yes, "  I  said,  "you  have  a  remarkable  intellect. 
But  it  has  one  defect.  It  does  not  seem  to  be 
aware  of  the  eloquence  of  silence.  If,  after  hav- 
ing delighted  the  company,  you  had  known  how 
to  listen  and  to  admire  the  others,  your  triumph 
would  have  been  assured.  The  true  conversation- 
alist is  the  man  who  knows  how  to  listen.  When 
he  adds  to  this  the  gift  of  being  able  to  say  a  few 
sensible  words,  he  becomes  irresistible." 

Months  and  months  elapsed.  One  morning  I 
received  this  little  note: 

"I  have  profited  by  your  advice.  I  appreciate 
the  power  of  silence.  I  no  longer  make  useless 
efforts.  I  attend  patiently  to  the  chatter  of  others. 
They  like  me  immensely.  I  say  little.  This  per- 
mits me  to  weigh  my  words,  and  wins  the  praises 
of  all  those  to  whom  I  listen." 

In  fact,  X is  now  considered  one  of  the 

most  brilliant  men  in  the  capital. 

I  have  reflected  a  great  deal  upon  the  bearing 
of  this  trivial  incident.  How  many  times  have  we 
not  witnessed  the  spectacle  of  people  eagerly 
destroying  their  own  interests?     The  chatterboxes 


A  Tg^v^  CatecHisnis  of  Happiness  275 

everywhere  form  the  enormous  majority.  All 
contribute  their  utmost  to  render  the  society  of 
men  by  no  means  enviable.  Yet  it  is  not  always  a 
physiological  necessity  to  talk  which  causes  the 
various  torments  of  people.  Most  frequently,  it 
is  the  invincible  necessity  of  pleasing.  Why  have 
we  not  been  taught  the  advantages  of  silence? 
II.  The  most  insignificant  fruits  of  experience 
on  the  tree  of  our  knowledge  are  piously  culled. 
Why,  in  the  domain  of  morahty,  are  the  woes  and 
disappointments  of  our  ancestors  left  unutilised? 
These  lessons,  crystalHsed  into  a  condensed  form, 
and  constantly  placed  before  our  eyes,  would 
perhaps  end  in  changing  our  nature.  Sublime 
magic  of  words!  In  any  case,  they  might  spare 
us  many  errors  and  many  tears. 

The  reHgions  have  always  reduced  their  wisdom 
into  morsels.  But  the  religious  formulas,  too  far 
removed  from  life,  principally  affected  those  who 
had  retired  from  it.  The  human  beings  near  at 
hand  must  have  the  honey  of  actual  life,  which 
could  and  ought  to  be  utiHsed  under  all  circum- 
stances. 

III.  We  desire  to  render  productive  the  blood 
shed  by  soldiers  upon  the  field  of  battle.  We 
wish  to  be  reimbursed  for  the  losses  occasioned  by 
war.     What  is  Ufe  except  the  continual  battle  of 


276  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

men  against  fate?  An  eternal  conflict.  Begun 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  ago,  it  will  end 
only  with  the  disappearance  of  the  last  survivor 
of  the  human  race.  Let  us  make  the  victors  speak. 
Let  us  listen  to  the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  of 
the  dying.  In  the  vast  cemetery  of  the  past  rest 
the  secrets  of  the  happiness  of  the  future. 

For  experience  always  costs  too  dearly.  We 
should  err  in  wishing  to  have  it  encompass  our 
life.  That  would  be  like  desiring  merchants  to 
acquire  the  secrets  of  success  at  the  cost  of  great 
losses  or  successive  failures.  A  ship  captain  does 
not  learn  his  profession  in  a  series  of  shipwrecks. 
Certain  experiences  even  deprive  us  of  the  possi- 
bility of  deriving  profit  from  them. 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  make  those  who  are 
gone  interpose.  So  let  us  also  listen  to  the  living, 
and  draw  from  their  tears  and  their  smiles,  their 
disappointments  and  their  triumphs,  a  few  guiding 
ideas.  Above  all,  do  not  let  us  lose  our  own  joys, 
but  through  the  ashes  and  the  rust  with  which 
circumstances  cover  our  souls,  let  us  allow  them  to 
speak.  Pausing  before  the  waves  which  are 
bearing  it  away,  let  us  hearken  to  the  voice  of  life. 
Solemn  and  musical,  it  points  out  how  to  avoid 
tortuous  and  deceptive  paths.  Perhaps  it  will 
also  indicate  the  easiest  ascent  toward  success. 


A  Few  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  277 

The  catechism,  or  rather  the  catechisms  of  Hfe! 
The  catechism  of  physical  health !  The  catechism 
of  intellectual  and  moral  health !  The  catechism  of 
success!  The  catechism  of  happiness!  Fruits  of 
the  wisdom  and  of  the  thought  of  others,  they 
would  permit  us  to  use  the  tears  and  the  joys  of 
our  neighbours  for  the  benefit  of  our  own  future. 

How  many  flowers  are  culled  in  the  great  garden 
of  our  existence!  We  do  wrong  to  let  them  fade 
and  perish.  It  would  be  so  easy  to  enjoy  their 
intoxicating  fragrance,  which  is  released  under  the 
action  of  destiny  as  is  the  perfume  of  the  flowers 
under  the  breeze  of  the  night. 

IV.  We  know  the  beautiful  answer  of  a  medi- 
seval  theologian,  who  had  been  asked  to  define  the 
essence  of  religion  while  he  was  balancing  on  one 
foot. 

"  Love  your  neighbour  as  yourselves, "  he  replied. 

Certain  sciences  of  Hfe  could  also  be  condensed, 
if  not  into  a  few  lines,  at  least  into  a  few  pages. 
The  form  they  will  take  when  they  have  come  from 
the  lapidary  will  dishearten  many  of  the  unbe- 
lievers. We  expect  the  roads  of  happiness,  like 
those  which  lead  to  Heaven,  to  be  very  long,  and 
especially  very  complex.  Yet  there  are  candid 
souls  that  go  there  by  the  simplest  ways.  And  the 
road  they  pursue  is  the  best  one. 


278  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Let  us  try  to  imitate  these  souls  by  plucking 
from  the  tree  of  life  a  few  fruits  which  are  full  of 
flavour.  Their  quality  will  not  be  always  of  the 
choicest.  There  will  even  be  bitter  and  utterly 
bad  fruits,  for  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  rare  gift 
to  be  able  to  choose  unerringly,  and  I  shall  not  be 
so  absurd  as  to  claim  this  gift  myself.  But,  by 
reflecting  upon  the  benefit  these  fruits  afford,  we 
shall  perceive  the  possibility  of  securing  finer  and 
more  nutritious  specimens.  We  shall  also  dis- 
cover how  profitless  it  is  to  leave  them  unused. 
And  then  more  skilful  gardeners  will  obtain  for 
them  greater  flavour,  and,  above  all,  more  tempt- 
ing forms.  Here  are  some  of  the  articles  of  a  cate- 
chism of  happiness.  We  may  begin  with  that  of 
our  moral  existence.  We  will  proceed  by  a  pre- 
sentation, in  a  few  words,  a  sort  of  short  formula,  of 
one  experience  of  life,  and  mention  as  a  com- 
mentary its  attractions  and  its  benefits. 

To  Be  Happy,  we  Must  Wish  to  Be  So 

Happiness  is  the  child  of  our  will.  The  stronger 
this  is,  the  more  beautiful  is  its  product.  There 
are  people  who  are  happy,  thanks  to  mere  chance, 
but  this  happiness  is  ephemeral.  The  lightest 
breeze  lays  it  low;  it  is  uprooted  and  destroyed 
by  the  least  adversity.     Only  by  the  exertion  of 


A  Fe-w  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  279 

our  will  can  it  be  consolidated.  When  we  deter- 
mine to  be  happy  at  any  cost,  when  we  bend  life 
to  the  exigency  of  our  happiness,  the  latter  rises 
triumphantly  and  majestically  against  the  entire' 
world.  Thought,  subjugated  by  our  desire  to  be 
happy,  breathes  upon  the  frowns  of  fortune  and 
converts  them  into  smiles.  Then  we  even  laugh 
at  fatality.  The  latter  no  doubt  is  potent,  but 
it  can  accomplish  nothing  against  the  impossible. 
Unhappiness  cannot  enter  our  souls  when,  ade- 
quately armed,  they  repel  their  foes. 

Let  us  Balance  the  Account  of  our  Life  Daily 

The  incidents  of  life,  provided  we  do  not  reflect 
upon  them,  do  not  form  part  of  ourselves.  They 
glide  over  our  souls  like  water  over  rocks.  To  enjoy 
our  individual  happiness,  it  must  be  seized  while 
passing.  Otherwise  it  flies  as  do  the  phantoms  of 
a  dream.  We  complain  of  the  brief  duration  of 
our  Hfe.  By  pausing  before  its  manifestations, 
we  render  it  more  intense.  Above  all,  we  shall 
render  it  more  advantageous  for  our  future.  Let 
us  pause  in  preference  before  our  happiness.  How 
many  times  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  talk  with 
people  who  ought  to  have  been  very  happy! 
Always  busy,  they  had  not  understood  the  con- 
ditions  of   their   happiness,    and   it   has   passed. 


28o  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

They  were  even  unhappy  from  having  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  causes  for  their  happiness.  We  must 
look  at  our  own  Hfe,  then  we  shall  love  it  more. 

A  Harmonious  Life  Ought  to  Embrace  the  Past,  the 
Present,  and  the  Future 

The  past  contains,  like  a  strong-box,  the  treasures 
of  the  life  which  has  been  lived.  These  treasures 
are  ours.  We  dispose  of  them  according  to  our 
pleasure.  We  linger  over  the  happy  moments,  we 
reject  the  painful  ones,  and  we  reflect  upon  the 
facts  that  are  pregnant  with  instruction.  In  this 
way  we  multiply  the  instants  of  happiness  and 
enrich  our  lives.  The  future  is  like  the  present. 
We  enjoy  it  through  the  imagination.  The  past, 
which  serves  for  instruction,  is  also  a  source  of 
pleasures. 

We  must  also  think  again  of  its  sorrows,  for  we 
must  recall  our  lives.  The  sweetness  and  the 
goodness  of  things  are  ours  only  at  this  price. 
They  comfort  us  for  disappointments  and  give 
existence  its  value. 

Everything  which  befalls  us  in  life  ought  to 
serve  for  the  formation  and  the  extension  of  our 
"ego."  For  that  very  reason  our  existence  be- 
comes richer,  more  intense,  and  more  interesting. 
We  gdin  the  jo^^s  of  a  double  life.     The  one  which 


A  Tg^sv  CatecHisms  of  Happiness  281 

is  enacted  in  the  depths  of  our  souls  is  supple- 
mented by  that  which  passes  ouside. 

Let  us  Avoid  Anger 

The  gentleness  of  indulgence  disarms  the  wicked, 
and  nourishes  our  own  souls  with  honey.  It  averts 
from  us  the  wrath  which  brings  in  its  train  in- 
justice and  vengeance.  Anger  is  a  venom  danger- 
ous to  the  soul  and  destructive  to  the  body. 
When  it  takes  possession  of  our  "ego,"  it  pene- 
trates the  most  mysterious  corners.  A  source  of 
weakness,  it  degrades  man,  and  renders  him  in- 
ferior to  the  person  against  whom  it  is  exercised. 

Let  us  Be  Men! 

To  Hve  rightly,  it  is  necessary  to  possess  the 
consciousness  of  the  dignity  of  man.  This  quality 
adorns  life  and  fills  it  with  happiness.  There 
is  no  superior  or  inferior  position,  for  all  positions 
are  dependent  upon  our  consciousness  which, 
like  the  sun,  shines  alike  upon  the  lofty  and  the 
humble.  The  art  of  living  is  merely  the  art  of 
conducting  ourselves  worthily  under  the  smiles 
and  the  frowns  of  fortune  and  evincing  humanity 
in  our  deeds  and  in  our  thoughts,  thus  dominating 
them,  instead  of  being  their  slaves. 

We  must  believe  in  human  dignity,  that  ruhng 


282  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

faith  animating  and  guiding  our  existence.  Thus 
we  feel  ourselves  penetrated  by  the  bond  which 
unites  us  to  the  great  All.  Whether  we  be  deists 
or  atheists,  this  bond  will  be  for  us  a  source  of 
pride,  of  energy,  of  consolation,  of  encouragement. 
Then  we  shall  truly  live,  and  we  shall  also  labour 
more  humanely,  more  joyously. 

Happiness  Depends  upon  the  Extent  of  our  Love 

The  soul  that  is  filled  with  affection  resembles  a 
well-lighted  room.  Love  and  kindness  illumine 
and  revive  our  consciousness.  But  we  often  lavish 
kindness  or,  friendship  upon  those  undeserving 
of  it.  Such  expenditiire  ought  not  to  be  too 
deeply  regretted,  for  the  satisfactions  which  they 
afford  us,  nevertheless,  remain  great  and  whole- 
some. The  pleasure  which  the  exercise  of  kind 
feelings  affords  is  good  for  us,  and  we  cannot  be 
deprived  of  this  benefit.  Whoever  shows  himself 
unworthy  is  like  the  diseased  tree  which,  before 
dying,  gives  us  its  fruits,  without  desiring  to  do  so. 

Life  Is  Effort,  Labour,  Action 

This  is  a  thought  which  all  who  are  dreaming  in 

their  retirement  should  keep  in  view.     To  with- 

•  draw  from  life  is  to  attract  death.     The  asserted 

repose  is  only  the  torpor  of  our  body  and  our  mind. 


A  Few  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  283 

Both   weaken   and   offer   an   easy   prey   to   their 
natural  enemies,  diseases. 

Those  who  speak  ill  of  action  and  rush  toward 
repose  resemble  people  who  would  seek  joy  in  the 
silence  of  the  tombs.  The  pleasure  is  brief,  for 
the  semblance  of  death  is  swiftly  transformed  into 
death  itself. 

Courtesy  as  the  Basis  of  Success 

Courtesy  conquers  everything  and  costs  us 
nothing.  Thanks  to  it,  the  most  insignificant 
man  derives  a  positive  benefit.  It  is  a  token 
which  leads  to  the  presumption  of  agreeable 
gifts:  kindness,  gentleness,  a  good  education. 
Not  to  use  courtesy,  would  be  equivalent  to  casting 
away  a  treasure  which  is  offered  gratis.  When 
politeness  comes  from  the  heart,  it  reaches  hearts, 
and  protects  us  as  artillery  protects  the  army 
which  is  following.  We  advance  through  life 
pleasantly,  for  everything  yields  to  its  magic 
power  which  conquers  on  its  way  both  hearts  and 
imaginations. 

V.  If,  from  the  moral  domain,  we  pass  to  that 
of  physical  health,  we  shall  perceive  still  better 
the  profound  influence  of  these  guiding  thoughts. 
They  ought  to  direct  us,  like  lighthouses  along  the 


284  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

numberless  pathways  of  our  life.  Health  is  one 
of  the  fundamental  causes  of  happiness.  People 
who  are  well  regard  things  sanely.  They  are 
almost  always  optimistic.  Life  in  itself  is  not  an 
evil.  Bad  digestion  counts  nine  tenths  in  our 
gloomy  ideas.  Cure  yourself,  we  ought  to  say  to 
the  pessimists,  and  life  will  present  itself  to  you  in 
all  its  charms. 

Yet  mankind  is  becoming  more  and  more  sad 
and  disenchanted.  This  is  because  humanity 
is  moving  farther  and  farther  away  from  whole- 
some principles.  We  talk  far  too  much  of  social 
hygiene,  but  we  do  far  too  little  to  realise  it  in 
life.  Dr.  J.  Hericourt  shows  that  the  government 
and  society  are  rivalling  each  other  in  the  task  of 
propagating  diseases.^  Comparison  with  past 
ages  affords  us  too  facile  consolations.  We  forget 
that  the  conditions  of  existence  have  radically 
changed.  Human  agglomerations  have  become 
too  dense ;  the  waters  we  drink  are  more  apt  to  be 
infected;  we  live  far  less  in  the  open  air;  we  work 
too  much  with  our  brains,  and  too  little  with  our 
muscles.  The  generations  which  immediately 
preceded  us  have  suffered  from  too  many  bloody 
and  violent  revolutions.  They  have  bequeathed 
a  morbid  heritage  of  unsettled  nerves  and  feeble 

^  Modern  Hygiene. 


A.  Fe^v  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  285 

organisms.  The  bad  germs  of  our  ancestors  are 
committing  ravages  in  us,  like  the  evil  microbes, 
multiphed  during  the  centuries  in  the  waters  and 
in  the  air. 

Sooner  or  later  social  hygiene  will  triumph. 
It  will  estabhsh  its  reign  over  the  societies  of  the 
future  with  the  majesty  of  a  law  of  collective 
safety.  While  awaiting  its  victory,  w^e  all  ought 
to  watch  over  our  own  well-being,  before  advancing 
to  the  conquest  of  the  general  welfare.  This  will 
only  hasten  its  advent. 

The  human  race,  to  be  reformed  morally,  must, 
above  all,  be  reformed  physically.  The  two  forms 
of  health  are  connected,  and  afford  each  other 
mutual  support.  Mankind,  qualified  for  happi- 
ness, will  not  only  be  better,  it  will  also  be  more 
sane. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  we  can  do  much  for  ourselves, 
through  our  own  efforts.  A  breviary  of  health, 
containing  in  condensed  form  the  most  important 
rules  to  follow,  might  regenerate  humanity.  These 
reminders,  placed  constantly  before  our  eyes, 
would  permeate  our  consciousness. 

Imagine  several  generations  submitting  do- 
cilely to  these  beneficent  suggestions.  The  plea- 
sure of  living,  under  their  influence,  would  be 
changed  into  the  luxury  of  living. 


286  TTHe  Science  of  Happiness 

Let  us  instance,  by  way  of  examples,  a  few 
directions  for  living  sanely.  Let  us  trust  to 
comprehensive  souls.  Through  these  few  separate 
leaves,  a  perception  is  afforded  of  the  beauty  and 
of  the  utility  of  the  entire  plant  from  which  these 
leaves  are  detached. 

Let  MS  Avoid  Excess  in  Food 

Almost  all  persons  eat  two  or  three  times  as 
much  as  the  human  organism  requires.  The 
products  of  excessive  and  poorly  assimilated  ali- 
mentation cause  an  efflorescence  of  toxins.  Our 
weakened  bodies  become  the  refuge  of  all  sorts 
of  diseases.  Our  moral  being,  in  its  turn,  is  also 
vigorously  attacked.  Life  becomes  a  burden. 
In  proportion  to  the  approach  of  maladies,  the 
joy  of  living  and  happiness  recede. 

We  ought  to  be  on  our  guard  against  our  appe- 
tite. We  should  master  instead  of  submitting  to  it, 
a  laconic  precept  upon  the  adoption  of  which  often 
depends  the  welfare  of  a  long  and  happy  life. 

Let  us  Harmonise  our  Mental  and  our  Physical 
Activity 

There  is  an  imperious  necessity  for  exercising 
at  the  same  time  our  muscles  and  our  brains.  A 
sane  and  powerful  mentality  demands  a  sound  and 


A  Fe-w  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  287 

substantial  body.  Manual  labourers  ought  to 
use  their  minds.  The  right  to  intellectual  culture 
is  the  fundamental  right  of  the  working  class,  as 
the  right  of  making  their  muscles  work  belongs  to 
the  liberal  professions.  But  it  is  not  sufficient 
to  grant  a  right,  the  possibility  of  exercising  it 
should  also  be  assured.  Upon  the  balance  between 
our  muscular  and  our  cerebral  life  depends  the 
rational  improvement  and  the  happiness  of  the 
human  race. 

The  Primordial  Duty  of  Man  Is   to  Respect  his 
Health 

Our  individual  health  is  not  only  the  foundation 
of  our  own  happiness,  but  it  also  contributes  to 
the  happiness  of  the  community.  Excesses  com- 
mitted injure  visibly  only  ourselves,  but  they  are 
equally  harmful  to  our  immediate  environment, 
to  the  community,  to  the  State.  They  also  wrong 
future  generations.  Incalculable  in  their  conse- 
quences, our  transgressions  against  the  vital 
principles  of  our  organism  thus  become  actual 
offences. 

It  is  man's  duty  to  practice  physical  morality. 
Attacks  upon  the  laws  of  health,  though  difficult  to 
define  and  to  punish,  nevertheless  remain  offences, 
while  sometimes  assuming  the  gravity  of  crimes. 


288  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

VI.  We  are  almost  constantly  witnessing  the 
spectacle  of  enormous  efforts  to  obtain  moderate 
results.  In  political  and  social  life  majestic 
engines  are  brought  forward  to  heat  little  glasses 
of  water.  Costly  meetings  of  sovereigns,  accom- 
panied with  reviews  of  their  armies,  are  organised, 
which  have  no  influence  upon  the  progress  of 
things.  Elaborate  laws  are  promulgated  which 
change  nothing.  They  resemble  the  imposing 
buildings  that  afford  no  one  shelter. 

These  sights  are  familiar.  They  no  longer 
cause  astonishment.  But  the  contrary  scandalises 
us.  A  little  turbine  intended  to  move  a  complex 
machine  leaves  us  incredulous. 

The  influence  which  these  maxims,  so  easily 
drawn  up  and  maintained,  can  exert  upon  the 
moral  and  the  physical  health  of  human  beings 
will  not  be  readily  admitted.  We  believe  far 
more  readily  in  the  power  of  big  books  whose 
ideas  escape  us,  as  trees  are  lost  in  yast  forests. 
Yet  these  precepts  might  be  as  numerous  as  the 
infinite  aspects  of  life.  They  might  sum  up  its 
entire  philosophy  by  placing  it  within  the  reach 
of  every  mind,  of  every  heart. 

VII.  We  are  grateful  to  a  friend  when,  in  a 
difficult  moment,  he  pushes  us  into  a  path  that  is 
favourable    to    our    happiness.     These    fruits    of 


A.  Fe>v  CatecHisms  of  Happiness  289 

wisdom  would  exercise  the  functions  of  these 
prudent  friends.  The  flowers  of  experience  gath- 
ered among  neighbours  would  thus  be  utilised ;  as 
also  those  which  have  grown  in  the  gardens  of 
our  minds.  These  cautions  would  often  be  like 
the  seeds  which,  carelessly  flung  upon  the  soil, 
produce  beneficent  trees.  Amid  the  intersecting 
roads  the  pathway  of  our  safety  would  be  easily 
found.  Thanks  to  the  seeds  which  have  been 
scattered,  our  minds  will  grow. 

Adapted  to  the  understanding  of  juvenile 
brains,  these  delightful  precepts  of  wisdom  might 
easily  increase  experience  before  maturity.  These 
maxims  would  be  dissolved  in  the  youthful  minds 
as  foods  easily  assimilable  are  mingled  with  our 
organism.  Repeated  to  satiety,  they  would  be- 
come an  integral  part. 

There  are  undoubtedly  books  of  maxims,  of 
aphorisms,  or  of  detached  thoughts.  But  the 
idea  which  guides  these  is  rather  that  of  amusing 
or  of  shocking  our  imagination.  We  do  not  take 
their  instructions  seriously.  This  anxiety  to 
instruct,  usually  absent  in  authors,  is  still  more  so 
among  those  who  read  their  works. 

VIII.  Breviaries,  as  we  conceive  them,  will  be 
true  manuals  of  life.  Their  contents,  chosen 
with  method  and  discernment,  should  be  engraved 
19 


290  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

upon  our  memories  in  a  beautiful  and  attractive 
form.  Their  thoughts  should  be  like  those  royal 
gifts  which,  often  undeserved,  fall  into  our  lives 
and  cover  them  with  magnificence  and  splendour. 
Utilitarian  manuals  for  young  and  old,  they  would 
form  a  peerless  pedagogy,  a  pedagogy  of  the  happy 
life. 

Thanks  to  them,  the  soul  could  be  rendered 
more  sensitive  to  happiness  and  happiness  more 
soHcitous  for  our  souls.  Placed  in  the  hands  of 
youths,  they  could  do  much  for  the  education  and 
elevation  of  minds. 

In  their  condensed  form,  far  from  stifling,  they 
would  enlarge  our  minds,  by  making  them  mature 
more  rapidly,  in  their  applications  to  the  wisdom 
of  life. 

These  summaries  of  the  experiences  of  the  outer 
life  would  facilitate  the  unfolding  of  the  inner  one, 
as  the  fortune  inherited  from  their  fathers  facili- 
tates the  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  sons.  The 
catechism  of  life  will  perhaps  be  a  subject  of  instruc- 
tion in  a  few  half-scores  of  years.  And  doubtless 
it  will  not  be  the  subject  that  the  pupils  will  study 
with  the  least  diligence  and  love.  The  pupils  will 
see,  in  this  way,  the  most  instructive  aspects  of  life. 
They  will  learn  from  a  tender  age  the  means  of 
driving  away  sorrow  and  attracting  happiness. 


A  Fe-w  CatecKisms  of  Happiness  291 

Our  demonstration  may  not  be  entirely  convin- 
cing. This  tells  against  our  eloquence,  but  not 
against  our  idea.  A  bad  guide ,  I  have  chosen  a 
bad  path.  It  may  be  that  I  have  inadequately 
described  the  charms.  Test  these  by  seeking 
them  yourself.  Compose  a  breviary  of  life,  based 
upon  your  own  observations.  Try  to  keep  it 
henceforth  before  your  eyes.  To  understand  its 
advantages  more  readily,  begin  with  that  of 
physical  health.  Its  effects  are  more  prompt,  and 
for  that  very  reason,  more  convincing.  Reduced 
to  a  score  of  precepts,  the  suggested  breviary 
would  spare  us  many  disappointments.  These 
instructions,  ever  present  to  our  minds,  would 
bar  the  way  of  a  double  number  of  maladies.  We 
should  live  more  happily,  while  at  the  same  time 
living  longer. 


VII 

THE  MORALITY  OF  HAPPINESS 

I.  Life  dominates  the  universe.  It  existed 
before  us,  and  will  exist  after  we  have  passed 
away.  To  it  we  owe  what  we  are,  and  we  must 
transmit  to  others  the  sacred  torch  which  has 
been  confided  to  us.     We  must  live  our  life. 

This  is  the  supreme  lesson  which  is  impressed 
upon  us  from  all  sides.  The  normal  human  being 
will  always  manifest  a  desire  to  live,  and  an 
instinctive  apprehension  of  death.  We  undoubt- 
edly feel  the  void  that  we  shall  leave  after  our 
disappearance,  we  even  grieve  over  it.  Yet  we 
do  not  go  so  far  as  to  believe  in  the  disappearance 
of  life  from  the  moment  that  we  shall  be  no  more. 
Life  remains  and  will  remain  the  primordial  factor, 
without  which  we  cannot  imagine  the  nature  of  the 
outer  world  nor  our  inward  personality.  The 
basis  of  all  our  thoughts  and  of  all  our  actions, 
it  may  be,  and  it  is  in  reaHty,   the  underlying 

foundation  of  morality. 

292 


TKe  Morality  of  Happiness         293 

II.  We  live.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause  to 
which  we  owe  Hfe,  we  must  submit  to  its  require- 
ments. It  is  necessary  to  hve,  and  furthermore  to 
live  happily.  These  are  two  inseparable  postulates, 
which  may  furnish  the  system  of  government  of 
our  lives,  a  system  of  morality.  The  history  of 
mankind  is  often  summed  up  in  a  good  or  in  a  bad 
conception  of  happiness.  For  the  idea  that  we 
form  of  it,  the  sentiments  which  it  inspires  in  us, 
fill  our  lives.  Granted  a  human  race  composed  of 
philosophers,  and  their  mode  of  thinking  and  of 
living  would  become  in  its  turn  philosophical. 
It  is  not  sacrifice  or  abnegation  which  has  created 
human  civilisation.  It  is  the  ideal  of  happiness 
which  the  best  of  human  beings  have  formed. 
All  have  laboured  in  view  of  their  low  or  lofty 
interest ;  all  have  been  guided  by  their  instinctive 
or  conscious  aspirations  toward  happiness. 

But  how  are  we  to  live?  How  are  we  best  to 
fulfil  our  destiny?  To  answer  this  anxious  in- 
quiry thousands  of  systems  of  moraHty  have  been 
devised.  At  the  present  day,  as  in  the  times  of 
the  first  philosophers,  there  is  division  on  this 
subject.  The  ideal  proposed  was  sometimes  too 
high,  sometimes  too  low.  Above  all,  it  was  too 
far  apart  from  our  real  interests  or  our  individual 
aspirations.     Men   appeared   to  forget   that   the 


294  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

desire  to  live  happily  follows  the  principle  of  life, 
as  the  night  follows  the  day. 

Happiness  feeds  and  directs  our  life.  Undoubt- 
edly it  assumes  all  shapes.  Let  us  distrust  those 
that  deceive  our  judgment,  for  even  the  renuncia- 
tion of  happiness  is  only  one  of  its  special  forms. 
Viewing  the  sacrifice  toward  which  noble  souls 
tend,  it  seems  to  us  that  their  desire  is  to  live  in 
misery.  On  becoming  closely  connected  with  them, 
we  perceive  that  the  point  in  question  is  not  a 
negation  of  happiness,  but  the  attainment  of  a 
more  refined,  more  elevated  happiness.  The  moral- 
ity of  the  ascetics  is  nourished  by  the  pleasure  of 
suffering,  an  inverse  form  of  happiness.  Madame 
de  Sevigne  speaks  of  a  priest  who  ate  stockfish 
in  this  world  that  he  might  feast  upon  salmon  in 
the  other.  In  the  depths  of  many  religious  cal- 
culations which  are  lauded  as  the  ideal  morality, 
we  almost  always  find  the  eternal  stockfish  with 
which  we  are  content  while  anticipating  delicious 
fish  in  the  world  beyond  the  tomb. 

III.  It  is  the  meaning  which  we  attach  to 
happiness  that  renders  our  life  base  or  noble. 

The  moral  masquerade  in  which  we  live  makes 
us  disguise  the  directing  thought  of  our  acts. 
It  is  baptised  by  so  many  false  names,  it  is  made  to 
submit  to  so  many  changes,  that  its  real  nature 


XKe  Morality  of   Happiness         295 

remains  hidden  and  intangible.  With  rare  hypo- 
crisy, we  found  moraHties  upon  principles  of 
duty,  of  justice,  of  love,  of  the  fear  of  heaven  and 
of  hell.  Strip  them  and  we  shall  discover,  be- 
neath all  these  artifices,  the  true  motive  of  life, 
the  search  for  happiness.  Therefore,  let  us  grant 
happiness  openly  the  dominant  place,  since, 
victorious,  it  has  resisted  and  is  resisting  all  the 
attempts  to  stifle  it. 

IV.  The  aim  of  science,  in  general,  and  that  of 
morality,  in  particular,  consists  in  releasing  the 
truth  of  facts  and  feelings,  but  not  in  veiling  these 
facts,  or  in  making  them  forcibly  return  into 
preconceived  ideas. 

Man  owes  all  that  he  is  to  the  vanished  genera- 
tions. This  debt  he  must,  in  turn,  repay  to  those 
that  will  follow.  He  does  not  imagine  himself  with- 
out the  dead  who  have  disappeared,  the  living  who 
surround  him  or  those  who  will  come  after  him. 
He  has  sacred  debts  to  the  dead,  and  duties  to  the 
living.  This  solidarity  between  the  dead  and  the 
living,  and  between  the  living  themselves,  is  thrust 
upon  him  in  his  every  act  and  in  his  every  thought. 

Moreover,  experience  teaches  him  that  his 
happiness  is  only  the  result  of  the  happiness  of 
the  community.  In  the  same  way  that  he  was 
shaped  by  the  vanished  generations,  he  depends 


296  XHe  Science  of  Happiness 

upon  the  human  beings  by  whom  he  is  surrounded. 
Grant  that  society  might  return  to  a  state  of 
brigandage,  and  his  safety,  as  well  as  his  personal 
happiness,  will  vanish  with  the  happiness  of  the 
community.  The  hygienic  precautions  taken  by 
the  individual  result  in  profit  to  the  public,  just 
as  his  health,  in  its  turn,  depends  upon  the  mea- 
sures for  the  prevention  of  disease  adopted  by 
the  community.  The  law,  that  expression  of  the 
public  will,  protects  the  community  against  the 
perils  of  unchained  selfishness.  These  instances 
of  the  dependence  and  the  reciprocal  soHdarity  of 
our  personal  interests,  and  those  of  the  community, 
might  be  multiplied  ad  infinitum.  And  the  more 
we  reflect  upon  the  laws  of  our  happiness,  the  more 
we  perceive  its  direct  dependence  upon  the  happi- 
ness of  the  community,  the  happiness  of  our  na- 
tive country,  and  of  the  native  countries  of  other 
peoples. 

This  discovery  shows  us  and  explains  the  su- 
preme duty  of  our  life:  no  one  has  a  right  to  enjoy 
the  benefits  which  he  owes  to  the  labour  of  others, 
without  contributing  his  share,  in  proportion 
to  his  means,  to  their  happiness  and  their  safety. 

Thus  we  have  duties  to  the  family,  the  com- 
munity, to  the  fatherland,  and  to  the  human 
race. 


TKe  Morality  of   Happiness         297 

V.  The  long  ages  during  which  hfe  was  mis- 
understood have  made  us  disparage  happiness. 
A  pedagogy  based  upon  ideas  often  contrary  to 
the  nature  of  man,  has  rendered  it  contemptible. 
Happiness,  the  morahsts  assert,  is  only  interest, 
and  the  interest  is  vile  and  unworthy.  Instead 
of  placing  happiness  upon  the  heights  to  lead 
human  beings  upward,  it  was  constantly  assigned 
a  suspicious  place  in  a  degraded  life.  Happiness 
was  hidden  behind  false  virtues,  as  the  nobles  of 
the  old  days  covered  their  natural  hair  with  some- 
what doubtful  wigs.  And  although  happiness  was 
banished  from  the  city,  nevertheless,  more  ardent 
than  ever,  laughing  at  those  who  sought  to  stifle 
it,  it  has  never  ceased  to  demand  its  rights.  Like 
the  bell  of  which  Victor  Hugo  sang : 

"  Even  while  sleeping  with  nor  breath  nor  light. 
Still  the  volcano  smokes  and  sighs  the  bell, 
Still  from  its  brazen  heart  the  prayer  doth  well, 
And  we  no  more  can  stay  the  sounds  that  rise 
Than  stop  the  ocean's  waves,  or  winds  from  out  the 
skies." 

Hypnotised  by  the  erroneous  ideas  of  our 
ancestors,  we  tremble  at  the  thought  of  the  re- 
habilitation of  happiness.  Its  deliverance  seems 
at  once  odious  and  dangerous.     At  the  bottom  of 


298  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

our  apprehensions  appears,  amazing  in  its  survival, 
the  conception  of  the  diaboHcal  origin  of  man.  The 
son  of  Satan,  man  incarnates  evil.  To  restrain 
his  wicked  nature,  it  must  be  lulled  to  sleep  by 
decoctions  of  sublime  abnegation.  Because  he 
has  been  seen  coercing  the  weak,  it  has  been 
concluded  that  his  "nature"  demands  the  exercise 
of  tyranny  over  his  fellow- beings;  because  he  has 
been  found  treacherous  and  given  to  lying,  it  has 
been  inferred  that  he  is  bom  for  cunning  or 
falsehood.  The  facts  proven  have  doubtless  been 
true,  but  their  interpretation  has  been  in  every 
respect  false. 

In  reality,  man  loves,  seeks,  and  lives  only 
through  and  for  happiness. 

Transform  his  sensibility,  improve  his  feelings 
and,  instead  of  doing  evil,  he  will  live  for  good, 
which  then  becomes  one  of  the  essential  conditions 
of  his  happiness. 

Maine  de  Biran  has  given  utterance  to  this 
profound  observation':  "Give  to  the  strong 
being  a  feeling  of  sympathy  and  love,  and  instead 
of  oppressing  the  weak  his  relative  power  will 
henceforth  be  exercised  only  in  their  support.** 

We  preach  to  man  .the  sacrifice  of  his  own  person 
in  behalf  of  the  species,  and  he  does  not  cease  to 

*  Foundations  of  Morality  and  Religion. 


TKe  Morality  of  Happiness         299 

claim  his  individual  rights  to  life.  The  addresses 
of  the  founders  of  religions,  and  the  tirades  of  the 
moraUsts  are  shattered  against  the  invincible 
necessities  of  our  rights,  of  our  life,  of  our  happi- 
ness. Yet  the  purest,  the  most  disinterested 
minds  often  abandon  their  abstractions  when 
they  encounter  reality.  Then  the  reUgions  speak 
of  the  "reward,"  an  invincible  means  of  at- 
tracting and  of  holding  mortals  in  the  path  of 
virtue. 

"Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad,"  Jesus  has 

said,  "for  great  is  your  reward  in  Heaven."  .  .  . 

Also  "that  thine  alms  may  be  in  secret:   and  thy 

ather  which  seeth  in  secret  himself  shall  reward 

thee  openly."     (Saint  Matthew.) 

We  must  submit  to  evidence.  Nature  herself 
seems  to  be  favourable  to  the  rights  of  the  individ- 
ual. We  witness,  without  opposition,  the  sacrifices 
which  the  latter  makes  for  the  race.  But  it  may 
be  set  up  as  a  principle  that  these  sacrifices  are 
in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  value  of  the  individual. 
In  proportion  to  his  ascent  in  the  organic  scale, 
his  forms  of  immolation  to  the  race  diminish  in 
quantity  and  in  quality. 

The  Myxomycetes  as  well  as  the  various  crypto- 
gams disappear  as  individuals  as  soon  as  they 
are  born,  for  in  associating  they  cease  to  exist 


300  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

separately,  and  in  the  form  of  plasmodia  they 
become  a  mass  of  living  matter. 

The  swimming  polyps  form  colonies  of  organs 
necessary  for  the  existence  of  the  community. 

Ascend  by  a  few  steps,  and  we  shall  see  how  the 
individual  is  emancipated  up  to  the  time  when, 
with  man,  he  has  his  personality  independent 
from  that  of  the  community.  He  might  live 
almost  isolated  from  his  fellow-creatures  if  it  were 
not  for  his  happiness,  which  imperiously  demands 
the  social  state  with  all  the  rights  and  the  duties 
the  latter  involves. 

VI.  But,  it  will  be  said,  if  the  principle  of 
happiness  flows  from  individual  interest,  will  it 
not  expose  us  to  disappointments,  for  our  interest 
is  not  always  just?  Granted.  But  nothing  is 
perfect  under  the  sun.  The  just  itself  is  often 
dangerous  or  harmful.  The  fate  of  human  socie- 
ties frequently  depends  upon  stratagems  and 
falsehoods.  In  the  struggle  of  the  weak  against 
the  strong  the  former  would  perish  if  they  were 
condemned  to  use  only  means  which  are  not  re- 
prehensible. The  essential  point  is  to  diminish,  as 
much  as  possible,  the  attacks  made  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  truth  and  of  goodness.  Yet  it  would  be 
wrong  to  condemn  justice  and  truth  because  their 
application,  often  difficult,  may  also  be  harmful. 


TKe  Morality  of   Happiness         301 

The  principle  of  happiness  sometimes  occasions 
moral  disappointments,  but  what  principle  of 
morality  is  free  from  these?  That  of  happiness 
will  at  least  have  in  its  favour  the  sincerity  and 
the  force  of  a  general  and  inevitable  law.  Far 
from  being  an  invention  of  the  philosophers,  it  is 
a  reality  of  life.  And  if  morality  cannot  always 
descend  to  the  level  of  happiness,  let  us  raise  the 
latter  to  the  level  of  lofty  morality.  If  the  mount- 
ain will  not  go  to  Mahomet,  runs  an  old  saying, 
Mahomet  must  go  to  the  mountain.  Our  ideal 
of  happiness  must  be  educated.  We  must 
make  it  include  divine  things,  and  the  human 
race  will  have  aspirations  toward  sublime  hap- 
piness. 

VII.  When  we  succeed  in  rooting  in  our  con- 
sciousness the  recognition  of  the  enhancement 
of  our  happiness  which  goodness  and  soHdarity 
afford,  humanity  will  become  good  and  beautiful, 
just  as  it  is  advancing  toward  peace  in  proportion 
to  its  understanding  of  the  miseries  of  war. 

We  could  never  urge  sufficiently  the  power  of 
suggestion.  Often  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider 
that  a  suggestion  of  our  senses  is  real  for  this 
illusion  to  assume  the  force  of  reality. 

What,  from  the  standpoint  of  abstract  beauty, 
is  more  insufficient  than  our  organism?     But,  by 


302  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

dint  of  believing  it  perfect,  we  do  not  perceive  its 
defects. 

Yet  in  the  eyes  of  experienced  anatomists,  the 
human  body  is  only  an  unfinished  model.  Num- 
berless ruins,  vestiges  of  a  long- vanished  past,  en- 
cumber it  in  every  direction.  Some  of  its  organs 
are  entirely  useless;  others,  without  charm  and 
obsolete,  rebel  against  the  harmony  of  the  whole. 

Of  what  service  is  the  epiphysis  of  the  brain  or 
the  pineal  gland?  It  is  only  a  useless  survival  of 
the  Cyclopean  eye  of  the  saurians.  As  useless 
are  the  extrinsic  muscles  of  the  ear,  or  the  lachry- 
mal caruncle,  a  heritage  bequeathed  by  the  third 
eyelid  of  the  mammals.  According  to  Widers- 
heim  man  would  have  one  hundred  and  seven  of 
these  hereditary  abortive  organs,  which  will 
perhaps  survive  thousands  of  centuries  more, 
contrary  to  the  rules  of  utility  and  beauty. 

Man  has  no  cure  for  these.  He  is  so  convinced 
of  the  perfection  of  his  organism  that  these  defects 
have  no  influence  upon  him.  The  dogma  of 
feminine  beauty  affords  us  a  still  more  striking 
example.  The  structure  of  woman  is  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  the  all-powerful  canon.  Yet  woman — • 
even  more  than  man— nurtured  by  the  suggestions 
of  so  many  centuries,  does  not  cease  to  see  in  her 
form  the  incarnation  of  supreme  beauty. 


THe  Morality  of  Happiness        303 

The  mind  rules  our  acts.  It  also  rules  our 
sensibility  and,  for  that  very  reason,  our  happiness. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  stint  or  to  nourish  it, 
and,  in  its  ttim,  it  will  affect  our  way  of  seeing  and 
feeling  things,  in  short,  it  will  shape  our  happiness. 

VIII.  Morality  is  only  a  partial  conception 
of  our  mind.  We  can  form  and  de-form  it,  ac- 
cording to  the  elements  which  enter  into  its 
composition.  We  slander  moraHty  by  calling  it 
exclusively  innate.  If  this  were  true,  religion  and 
pedagogy  would  become  equally  useless,  and  we 
might  close  at  the  same  time  both  the  schools  and 
the  churches. 

But  happiness  depends  chiefly  upon  the  moral 
feelings.  Intelligence  and  happiness  often  follow 
two  parallel  lines,  which  appear  analogous,  though 
they  are  not  identical.  Intelligence  acts  upon 
happiness  only  in  an  indirect  manner  by  influencing 
our  morality  and  our  aspirations.  But  happiness 
has  its  roots  sunk  in  the  moral  domain.  Vainly 
would  the  sources  of  happiness  be  sought  elsewhere. 
The  man  who  has  not  succeeded  in  implanting 
them  in  his  conscience,  will  find  them  neither  in 
wealth,  nor  in  honours,  nor  in  pleasures. 

External  circumstances  can  do  everything: 
they  can  even  destroy  us,  but  they  cannot  give  us 
happiness  if  our  morality  does  not  aid  them.     That 


304  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

is  what  gives  value  to  life.  Without  it,  happiness 
refuses  to  grow  as,  without  the  sun,  neither 
flowers  nor  fruits  would  come  to  gladden  our  eyes. 

Ah!  how  charming  is  the  Persian  legend  about 
the  perfectly  happy  man ! 

A  king  who  was  very  powerful  and  very  un- 
happy, consulted  his  astrologers.  "What  must 
one  do  to  be  happy?"  The  latter,  after  patient 
searching,  found  the  clue  to  the  riddle.  "Omni- 
potent king,  you  must  wear  the  shirt  of  a  per- 
fectly happy  man."  After  long  search  a  poor 
peasant  was  found  who  was  perfectly  happy.  He 
was  a  ragged  fellow,  who  had  no  shirt. 

IX.  Auguste  Comte  has  set  forth  the  influence 
of  morality  upon  happiness  in  pages  of  absolute 
lucidity : 

"True  human  felicity,"  he  says,  "depends 
more  upon  moral  progress,  over  which  at  the  same 
time  we  have  greater  control,  though  its  exercise 
may  be  more  difficult.  There  is  no .  intellectual 
improvement  which,  in  this  respect,  could  equal, 
for  instance,  a  real  increase  of  goodness  and  of 
courage."' 

Elsewhere  Comte  formulates,  in  a  still  more 
definite  manner,  the  influence  of  moral  progress 
upon  happiness: 

»  A.  Comte,  Systemc  de  politique  positive. 


The  Morality  of    Happiness         305 

"Our  moral  improvement  participates  in  our 
true  happiness  in  a  way  more  direct,  more  complex, 
and  more  certain  than  any  other  thing  whatever. " 

Long  before  Comte,  the  immortal  author  of 
Le  Traite  des  Passions  de  VAme  had  discovered 
this  interdependence  of  cause  and  effect  which 
unites  our  moral  life  with  happiness. 

''Whoever,"  Descartes  affirms,  ''has  lived  in 
such  a  way  that  conscience  cannot  reproach  him 
with  having  ever  failed  to  do  any  of  the  things 
which  he  has  beheved  to  be  best  (the  virtues), 
receives  from  this  immunity  a  great  satisfaction 
which  renders  him  happy. " 

X.  Yet  let  us  not  be  excessively  optimistic. 
The  noble  principles  which  work  out  the  healthy 
comprehension  of  happiness  suffer  serious  perver- 
sions in  life.  This  simply  proves  that  we  have  not 
done  enough  to  secure  the  triumph  of  noble  happi- 
ness and  to  establish  it  on  solid  foundations  within 
the  precincts  of  our  consciousness.  We  know  that 
life  is  very  hard  upon  all  ideal  conceptions.  They 
can  maintain  themselves  in  their  serene  beauty  only 
in  the  domain  of  the  absolute. 

Therefore  the  moraHty  of  pure  happiness,  con- 
sidered from  the  absolute  standpoint,  must  not 
be  confused  with  appHed  happiness.  The  task 
of  the  educators  will  be  to  bring  us  nearer  and 


3o6  XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

nearer  to  the  heights  of  pure,  absolute  happiness. 
When  the  ideal  of  practical  happiness  is  brought 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  ideal  instituted  by 
the  morality  of  happiness,  it  will  answer  all  the 
requirements  of  duty  and  of  justice. 

This  morality  will  doubtless  be  slow  in  establish- 
ing itself.  It  must  first  give  a  precise  definition 
of  its  principles,  and  after  that  bring  about  their 
adoption.  Above  all,  it  must  uproot  the  false 
notions  of  happiness  on  which  we  have  lived  from 
time  immemorial,  in  order  to  replace  these  with 
new  ones.  But  henceforth  we  can  foresee  pro- 
found and  beneficent  changes  resulting. 

XI .  When  mankind  has  understood  that  happi- 
ness lies  within  ourselves,  and  that  we  are  happy 
only  because  we  desire  to  be  so,  thousands  of  pre- 
judices will  crumble  around  us,  prejudices  which 
now  prevent  our  moral  improvement,  and  impede 
our  way  to  happiness.  We  have  showed  else- 
where that  our  unhappiness  is  frequently  only  the 
product  of  our  misconception  of  Hfe.  We  do 
things  which  are  harmful  to  others,  without  think- 
ing that  their  woe  is  baneful  to  ourselves. 

Envy,  the  mother  of  so  many  social  misdeeds, 
is  chiefly  injurious  to  ourselves.  Kindness  and 
love,  the  source  of  happiness  to  others,  obtain  this 
blessing  first  for  those  who  put  them  in  practice. 


TKe  Morality  of   Happiness         3^7 

The  wealth  which  is  the  result  of  effort  profitable 
to  others,  alone  affords  genuine  enjoyment. 
Labour  produces  a  lasting  joy.  Family  life,  based 
upon  mutual  love  and  respect,  does  the  greatest 
good  to  its  members.  From  every  side  comes 
the  same  assurance:  it  is  impossible  to  enjoy  a 
noble  and  permanent  happiness  outside  of  that 
of  our  neighbours.  In  proportion  as  our  life 
broadens  and  grows  nobler,  this  soHdarity  of 
happiness  enlarges  more  and  more.  Plato's  divine 
theory  of  virtue  is  conjured  up  as  we  study  happi- 
ness. Virtue  is  a  science,  the  philosopher  taught. 
Whoever  does  evil  is  a  person  who  does  not  know 
good.  The  same  is  true  of  happiness.  The 
imhappy  man  is  he  who  is  ignorant  how  to  obtain 
happiness. 

XII.  People  who  boast  of  having  studied  Hfe 
shrug  their  shoulders  when  they  hear  happiness 
spoken  of  in  this  way.  Goodness  and  love  as 
ends  in  themselves!  Nonsense!  And  they  cite 
numerous  examples  showing  the  contrary.  Do 
not  criminals  who  rob  on  a  grand  scale  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  crimes?  They  are  rich  and  proud. 
Social  distinctions  are  theirs,  as  well  as  the 
esteem  of  their  fellow-citizens.  They  distribute 
the  favours  of  life.     They  are  envied. 

Each  great  city  has  its  infamous  dens  where 


3o8  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

swarms  a  population  that  is  suspicious  and 
criminal.  When  victims  are  abundant  and  crimes 
easy,  its  members  appear  to  enjoy  unclouded  happi- 
ness. They  give  themselves  up  to  drunkenness 
and  debauchery  and  would  not,  on  any  account, 
change  their  picturesque  and  adventurous  life. 
Are  they  really  happy?  Who  is  the  man  who, 
aside  from  the  question  of  responsibility,  would 
accept  this  form  of  happiness?  ' 

We  challenge  at  this  stage  the  apologists  of 
triumphant  vice.  Does  not  the  point  in  question 
concern  a  special  form  of  happiness?  We  need 
only  see  it  at  closer  range  to  disdain,  if  not  to 
scorn  it.  Certain  animals  live  with  entire  satis- 
faction in  the  quagmires.  There  are  others  that 
thrive  only  in  the  mire.  Can  we  envy  or  desire 
that  kind  of  happiness? 

We  have  chosen  extreme  cases :  criminals  on  a 
large  scale,  benefiting  by  the  consideration  of  the 
world,  and  criminals  of  low  grade,  objects  of  horror 
and  universal  scorn,  enjoying  the  smiles  of  fate. 
What  is  the  difference  that  separates  them? 
When  we  tear  off  the  masks  that  cover  the  true 
aspect  of  things,  we  perceive  the  fragility  of  their 
happiness.  Especially  do  we  perceive  its  inferior 
quality.  As  the  man  who  has  enjoyed  the  de- 
lights of  pure  air  will  not  exchange  it  for  a  vitiated 


THe  Morality  of  Happiness         309 

atmosphere,  so  he  who  has  understood  the  beauty 
and  the  nobihty  of  genuine  happiness  wi  1  not 
abandon  its  domain  to  venture  into  the  marshy 
fields  of  vice. 

XIII.  Happiness  being  the  goal  of  man,  and 
the  goal  of  society,  it  is  easy  to  deduce  from  it 
the  direction  of  individual  and  social  life.  Man  is 
a  social  being,  and  his  happiness  being  impossible 
outside  of  society,  it  must  harmonise  with  the 
requirements  of  the  happiness  of  the  community. 
This  harmony  is  formed  upon  the  bases  of  Justice, 
which,  in  its  turn,  creates  Duty.  Their  principles 
aim  at  the  happiness  of  the  community,  and  this 
communal  happiness  is  only  the  aggregate  of  in- 
dividual happinesses.  The  happiness  of  the  in- 
dividual must  be  subordinate  to  Justice,  which, 
the  vigilant  guardian  of  the  happiness  of  the 
community,  remains  the  determining  factor  of 
individual  happiness.  Both  must  be  rational,  for 
morality  can  consider  only  rational  beings. ' 

An  involuntary  distrust  seizes  upon  us  with 
regard  to  a  morality  founded  upon  happiness. 
Is  not  this  the  unchaining  of  all  the  passions  and 
all  the  appetities?     We  may  remark,   however, 

^  The  author  will  develop  in  a  special  work  the  system  of  moral- 
ity based  exclusively  upon  happiness  (Progress  and  Happiness), 
with  the  ramifications  of  secondary  principles  with  which  it  is 
connected. 


3IO         XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

that,  while  believing  it  just,  we  have  in  view  for 
its  practice,  only  a  human  race  which,  without 
being  superior,  will  have  understood  its  real 
interests.  To  reach  it  will  require  a  preliminary 
culture  as  well  as  a  rational  comprehension  of 
happiness.  Sooner  or  later,  this  education  will 
triumph.  First  of  all,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make 
mankind  abandon  its  false  ideas,  that  it  may  offer 
us  good  men. 

This  education  has  the  pecuHarity  that  it 
imposes  upon  us  the  duty  of  being  our  own  edu- 
cators. It  asks  us  to  regulate  our  own  lives  and  to 
bring  them  into  harmony  with  our  own  happiness, 
in  order  that  the  happiness  of  others  may  be 
secured. 

XIV.  A  morality,  based  upon  happiness  as 
its  object,  is  at  any  rate  more  elevated  than  that 
based  upon  fear.  It  is  more  dignified,  more 
generous,  and  especially  more  human.  It  acts 
in  the  broad  light  and  possesses  divine  simplicity. 
The  sacrifices  it  will  impose  will  be  so  much  the 
sweeter  because  their  aim  will  be  more  easily 
understood.  The  obligation  to  do  our  duty  solely 
through  duty,  in  view  of  duty  alone,  seems  at  the 
present  day,  in  spite  of  the  authority  of  Kant,  a 
childish  and  unrealisable  desire.  Herbert  Spencer 
was  right  in  saying  that  a  human  society  living 


TKe  Morality  of  Happiness         31 1 

upon  Kant's  principle  would  be  unbearable. 
Absolute  duty,  placed  outside  of  individual  and 
social  interests,  makes  us  smile,  like  the  Dalai 
Lama,  who,  invisible  and  confined,  expects  to 
rule  as  a  superior  being.  For  duty  itself  is  defined 
by  purposes  which  have  given  it  birth,  and  which 
maintain  its  essence,  as  the  sap  vivifies  the  tree. 

The  salvation  which  the  morality  of  happiness 
promises,  moreover,  appears  more  certain  than 
that  of  the  moralities  founded  upon  heavenly 
recompense  or  the  fear  of  hell.  Besides,  these 
latter  are  more  and  more  out  of  fashion. 


VIII 

WHAT  IS  HAPPINESS  ? 

I.  Definitions  of  happiness  aboiind.  They  are 
not  only  numerous,  they  are  especially  contradict- 
ory. There  is  the  special  happiness  of  the  scorners 
of  life;  there  is  another  for  those  by  whom  life  is 
exalted.  A  philosopher's  mode  of  life  produces 
in  his  consciousness  the  desire  for  a  wise  happiness ; 
a  dissipated  life  arouses  the  aspiration  for  a  happi- 
ness base  in  its  essence. 

But  what  is  true  happiness?  We  feel  it  suffi- 
ciently when  we  see  happy  people.  Yet  we  are 
much  perplexed  when  the  attempt  is  made  to 
define  their  happiness.  We  all  find  ourselves 
somewhat  in  the  position  of  Saint  Augustine. 
"  If  you  should  ask  me, "  he  says,  ''what  Time  is,  I 
should  not  know  how  to  tell  you.  But  I  know 
perfectly  so  long  as  I  am  not  asked. " 

We  may  try,  however,  to  derive  from  the  dif- 
ferent causes  of  happiness  the  conditions  which 

create  it  and  make  it  endure.     Let  us  note,  chiefly, 

312 


"WKat  Is  Happiness  ?  313 

that  happiness  assumes  all  forms,  for  it  is  fashioned 
according  to  our  souls,  and  therefore  infinitely 
variable.  The  more  elevated  it  is,  the  more  per- 
manent. And  these  two  qualities,  elevation  and 
permanency,  constitute  the  attributes  of  the  ideal 
happiness.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  desire  a  lofty 
happiness,  we  must  also  deserve  it.  Like  certain 
plants  of  rare  quality,  happiness  grows  only  in 
favourable  places.  For  its  reception  and  its  re- 
tention a  well-adapted  soul  is  needed.  To  en- 
joy the  happiness  of  a  Plato,  a  man  must  have 
lived  like  Plato.  Above  all,  he  must  have  thought 
of  life  and  conceived  it  in  the  manner  of  Plato. 

Nor  will  the  definition  of  happiness  framed  by 
a  Socrates  correspond  with  that  of  a  depraved 
gambler  or  of  a  hardened  pessimist.  Yet  the 
conceptions  of  happiness  formed  by  good  men 
have  many  chances  of  coinciding.  This  harmony, 
however,  requires  a  preliminary  understanding  re- 
lative to  the  extent  and  to  the  objects  of  happiness ; 
for  the  majority  of  thinkers  and  of  philosophers 
confuse  in  a  regrettable  manner  happiness  and 
pleasure,  happiness  and  feHcity,  and  even,  as 
Voltaire  has  proved,  happiness  and  happiness. 

II.  Happiness,  properly  so-called,  has  only  an 
ephemeral  duration,  while  felicity  presupposes  a 
condition  that  is  relatively  stable,  if  not  permanent. 


314  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

According  to  the  dictionary  of  the  encyclopae- 
dists, happiness  comes  from  without.  It  is  orig- 
inally a  good  hour, '  very  limited  in  time.  We  may 
feel  a  happiness,  without  being  happy. 

Happiness,  thus  limited,  resembles  pleasure, 
whose  weight,  however,  is  lighter.  For  pleasure 
may  last  only  the  space  of  a  moment,  and  vanish 
with  the  rapidity  of  a  flash  of  lightning.  Again, 
there  is  the  happiness  which  is  the  consequence  of 
fortunate  events,  and  a  happiness  limited  to  one 
pleasant  fact. 

III.  Happiness,  when  it  strikes  its  roots  into 
our  inward  life,  is  transformed  into  felicity. 
This  is  the  happiness  which  is  most  stable,  most 
enduring,  and  most  easy  to  acquire.  We  ourselves 
are  its  creators,  and  we  remain  its  masters.  It  is 
an  almost  permanent  condition.  It  secures  the 
balance  of  our  soul  and  guarantees  to  it  a  harmony 
that  is  difficult  to  find  and  still  more  difficult  to 
destroy.  As  we  have  considered  it  in  the  course 
of  this  work,  it  forms  the  right  of  the  individual. 
At  the  same  time  it  urges  itself  as  a  duty  to  be 
accomplished.     The  individual  has  the  right  to  be 

*  Bonheur,  the  French  word  for  happiness,  is  composed  of  bon 
(good)  and  heur  {heure,  hoar)  whose  final  e  is  supposed  to  be 
dropped  in  the  word.  The  Enghsh  happiness  is  not  formed  of 
words  having  the  same  meaning  as  the  French  ones,  and  therefore 
the  suggestion  is  lost. 


WKat  Is  Heppiness  ?  315 

happy,  but  he  has  also  the  dut}^  of  being  so  in  order 
to  secure  the  greatest  benefit  of  the  community. 
The  man  who  is  truly  happy  is  he  who  enjoys  a 
serenity  of  soul  the  causes  of  which  flow  from  his 
inner  life.  The  more  profound  this  inner  life  is, 
the  loftier  the  motives  which  direct  it,  the  more 
beautiful,  intense,  and  permanent  will  be  the 
happiness  which  it  produces. 

It  is  in  conformity  with  this  meaning  that 
Descartes'  distinguishes  "happiness"  from  "beati- 
tude."  "The  former  depends  solely  upon  things 
that  are  without  us,  while  beatitude  consists  in  a 
perfect  contentment  of  mind  and  an  inward  satis- 
faction, which  are  not  ordinarily  possessed  by  those 
who  are  the  most  favoured  by  fortune,  and  which 
philosophers  acquire  without  its  aid."  And  Des- 
cartes adds  to  his  definition  this  clever  remark: 
"It  seems  to  me  that  each  man  may  be  content 
with  himself,  without  expecting  anything  else- 
where." In  saying  this,  Descartes  has  only 
formulated,  in  other  terms,  the  ancient  definition 
of  Aristotle,  so  often  laid  under  contribution  by  the 
philosophers  of  all  the  ages. 

"Happiness  is  something  perfect,  for  it  is 
sufficient  unto  itself.  It  is  accessible  to  all,  since 
there  is  no  man,  provided  that  he  is  not  so  banned 

^  Correspondance. 


3i6  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

by  Nature  as  to  be  incapable  of  any  virtue,  who 
may  not  obtain  it  through  effort  or  study."  In 
short,  Aristotle  says,  "happiness  is  an  employ- 
ment of  the  activity  of  the  soul,  conformably  with 
virtue." 

IV.  Serenity  of  soul  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  inactivity  or  the  passive  contemplation 
of  the  Nirvana.  Life  is  movement,  and  happiness, 
which  is  simply  the  sublime  aspiration  of  life,  can 
be  found  only  in  action,  in  the  development  of 
our  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  faculties. 
Our  intellect  models  this  activity  according  to 
its  character.  The  work  of  a  philosopher,  having 
a  different  point  of  departure  and  aiming  toward  a 
different  goal,  will  not  be  identical  with  the  same 
work  performed  at  his  side  by  a  man  with  ordinary 
aspirations.  This  is  why  a  noble  activity  of  the 
soul  is  requisite  for  a  noble  happiness,  the  only 
one  which  is  intense  and  permanent. 

By  taking  the  strict  point  of  view,  by  basing 
happiness  upon  the  outbursts  of  animal  joy,  or 
upon  the  brutal  expression  of  our  countenances,  the 
special  "happiness"  produced  by  general  paralysis 
was  confused  with  happiness  in  the  true  meaning 
of  the  word.  The  sick  man  in  this  condition  shows 
the  maximum  of  satisfaction  with  life.  He  believes 
in  his  blooming  health,  his  extraordinary  endur- 


MTHat  Is  Happiness?  317 

ance,  his  physical  beauty.  He  believes  that  his 
dwelHng,  however  plain  it  may  be,  is  one  of  the 
most  sumptuous  abodes.  He  believes,  above  all, 
in  his  happiness,  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  de- 
sired. Gradually  his  brain  weakens.  He  imagines 
himself  to  be  the  richest,  the  most  powerful  of  all 
men  on  the  earth.  He  is  a  sovereign,  he  is  the 
Pope,  he  is  the  autocrat  of  the  entire  universe. 
But  this  pleasant  illusion  does  not  last  long.  The 
patient  undergoes  terrible  awakenings,  then  comes 
the  tragic  collapse,  definite  and  fatal. 

By  following  the  same  track,  Cesare  Lombroso, 
who  has  devoted  profound  pages  to  the  psychology 
of  the  insane,  considers  that,  among  the  latter, 
happiness  shows  itself  in  an  intense  and  lasting 
manner.  Lombroso,  among  other  instances,  cites 
this  curious  one  of  a  poor  paralytic  who,  incapable 
of  bringing  two  ideas  into  harmony,  incessantly 
repeated,  during  the  last  two  days  before  his 
death:  "How  happy  I  am!  0,  how  happy  I  am!" 

On  the  other  hand,  the  disciples  of  Cesare  Lom- 
broso teach  that  if  happiness  shows  itself  in 
geniuses,  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  they  approach 
madness  (megalomaniacs,  epileptics,  etc.)  and,  at 
any  rate,  their  happiness  would  be  of  very  brief 
duration. 

V.     We  have  seen  that  true  happiness,  in  other 


3l8  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

words,  genuine  felicity,  depends,  in  the  first  place, 
upon  our  moral  life.  Without  consciousness, 
happiness  is  only  a  decoy.  Therefore  it  is  futile 
to  endeavour  to  oppose  to  it  the  mirages  of  happi- 
ness, accompanying  certain  unconscious  conditions 
of  our  souls.  So  it  is  incorrect  to  talk  of  the  happi- 
ness brought  about  by  general  paralysis,  or  by 
madness.  The  'atter  does  not  differ  from  the 
intoxication  caused  by  opium  or  hashish.  Fleet- 
ing sensations,  however  agreeable  they  may  be,  do 
not  replace  happiness.  The  superiority  found,  in 
this  respect,  among  lunatics  or  paralytics,  is  merely 
the  longer  persistence  of  their  delusions.  If  happi- 
ness were  obtainable  on  these  terms,  we  should 
only  need  to  multiply  narcotics  while  giving  them 
the  mission  of  guiding  us  to  death. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  is  to  be  compared  with 
the  happiness  of  a  genius  accomplishing  the  task 
of  his  life,  of  an  inventor  before  his  successful 
invention,  or  of  a  writer,  in  love  with  his  work, 
who  sees  it  born  and  growing  before  his  eyes! 
The  briefest  moments  of  their  joy  often  suffice  to 
blot  out  a  whole  lifetime  of  troubles  and  sufferings. 

VI.  Spinoza,  who  has  founded  his  ethics  upon 
the  will  to  live,  sees-  in  this  the  cause,  all  the 
causes,  of  happiness.  We  must  act,  he  tells  us, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  our  personality. 


"WKat  Is  Happiness  ?  319 

This  liberation  of  the  inward  forces  constitutes  joy, 
happiness.  There  is  no  Hberty,  and  consequently 
no  joy  greater  than  that  of  following  the  mandates 
of  our  nature. 

This  conception  of  Spinoza  is  maintained  by 
all  who  love  life,  and  who  have  striven  to  reconcile 
man  to  it.  According  to  Goethe,  man's  worth,  as 
well  as  his  happiness,  depends  upon  his  ability  to 
give  value  to  existence.  Like  Spinoza,  the  im- 
mortal author  of  Faust  considered  human  per- 
sonality as  bearing  its  object  within  itself.' 
Our  own  improvement  is  the  object  of  our  exist- 
ence; that  is  why  we  cannot  neglect  it  and,  by 
pursuing  it,  we  secure  our  happiness. 

This  fundamental  conception  of  happiness  is 
found,  with  its  various  modifications,  in  almost 
all  the  lay  moralists  who,  far  from  breaking  away 
from  life,  strive  to  reconcile  human  beings  to  its 
demands  and  its  joys. 

VII.  To  find  a  more  concrete  definition,  we 
might  have  recourse  to  the  sensations  of  pain  and 
of  pleasure.  Intermingled  in  life,  pleasures  and 
troubles,  according  to  the  dominating  result  of 
the  one  or  of  the  other,  present  themselves  to  our 

^  The  purpose  of  life  is  life  itself.  .  .  .  And  elsewhere :  Pleasure^ 
joy,  interest  in  things  is  the  sole  reality.  ...  All  else  is  idle  and 
disappointing. 


320  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

eyes  under  the  form  of  happiness  or  of  misery. 
But  this  impression  is  not  always  trustworthy, 
for  the  sensations,  the  pains,  or  the  pleasures  have 
a  value  which  is  sometimes  unequal,  which  some- 
times does  not  admit  of  comparison. 

Pleasures  are  chiefly  of  a  higher  or  of  a  lower 
essence.  The  more  noble  their  source,  the  more 
easily  we  can  evoke  them  through  memory.  Thus 
we  can  more  readily  reproduce  the  sensations 
caused  by  a  beautiful  symphony  or  a  painting  of 
Raphael,  than  the  pleasures  afforded  by  the  taste  of 
a  fine  champagne  of  1815,  or  of  a  dish  of  swallows' 
nests. 

So  we  have  an  interest  in  seeking  lofty  pleasures. 
The  enjoyments  which  they  procure  are  more 
varied,  more  intense,  and  especially  more  amenable 
to  our  will.  Yet  pleasures  are  inconceivable  with- 
out pains.  Their  value  depends  upon  the  contrast 
which  these  latter  present.  Without  pains,  life 
would  become  colourless,  therefore  without  charm. 
We  must  try  to  lessen  the  extent  of  our  sorrows, 
of  our  pains,  of  our  sufferings,  for  life  inflicts  them 
in  an  extravagant  way,  but  we  must  neither  hope 
for  nor  desire  their  total  extinction.  As  evil 
lends  value  to  good,  and  cold  to  heat,  pain  enters 
into  the  price  of  our  happiness.  But  the  philo- 
sopher will  know  how  to  hold  it  at  a  distance, 


"WHat  Is  Happiness  ?  321 

while  an  ill-balanced  mind  will  succumb  to  its 
weight. 

Happiness  draws  woe  in  its  train,  as  pleasure 
is  followed  by  sorrow.  But  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  purify  and  to  ennoble  trouble,  and  its 
essence  will  dissolve  into  happiness,  the  instinctive 
inspiration  of  our  life. 

Noble  pleasures  may  be  infinitely  multiplied. 
Nay,  thanks  to  the  imagination,  they  can  become 
inexhaustible  riches.  We  can  remember  a  book, 
be  enraptured  by  its  ideas,  enjoy  an  indescribable 
pleasure  in  evoking  its  beauty.  We  recall  a 
pretty  landscape  and  again  mentally  live  in  its 
charms.  When  we  love  a  friend  sincerely,  the 
mere  thought  of  being  able  to  render  him  a  service, 
of  knowing  that  he  is  happy,  fills  us  with  satis- 
faction and  joy.  Delighted  by  a  lofty  act  of  good- 
ness or  of  courage,  we  conjure  it  up  and  rejoice 
in  its  beneficent  charms. 

The  purer  the  source,  the  deeper  are  the  pleas- 
ures which  flow  from  it,  while  having  a  vast  extent, 
and  a  limitless  faculty  of  repetition. 

Vulgar  pleasures,  which  are  base  in  their  essence, 
have,  on  the  contrary,  a  brief  duration.  Moreover, 
they  remain  rebellious  to  the  summons  of  our 
memories.  There  is  a  common  saying,  "to  make 
the  mouth  water,"  when  we  think  of  certain  dishes 


322  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

or  of  rare  drinks.  Try  to  recall  the  memory  of 
these  sensations,  and  you  will  perceive  their  worth- 
lessness. 

A  prejudice  as  old  as  human  thought  has  always 
identified  happiness  with  pleasure.  But,  as  we 
have  seen,  pleasures  may  contribute  to,  but  do  not 
constitute  happiness. 

It  is  wrong  to  proscribe  pleasures  as  a  whole, 
after  the  fashion  of  certain  moralists  or  professional 
pessimists,  but  it  is  also  wrong  to  deify  them,  an 
exaggeration  in  an  inverse  sense,  practised  by 
certain  ancient  schools. 

Pleasure  is  usually  the  expression  of  health,  as 
pain  signifies  a  morbid  condition. 

Certain  physiologists  go  to  the  point  of  discover- 
ing in  pain  the  phenomenon  of  intoxication. 

The  pessimists  who  assert  that  pleasure  is  a 
negative  condition  while  pain  is  the  positive 
element  of  life,  singularly  misunderstand  the 
elementary  psychology  of  our  conditions  of  soul. 

We  have  demonstrated  elsewhere  the  necessity 
for  and  the  benefits  derivable  from  pain;  but  its 
quantity  should  be  greatly  moderated.  It  re- 
sembles somewhat  the  condiments  for  certain 
foods,  which  enable  us  to  possess  a  higher  apprecia- 
tion of  their  properties. 

The  apologists  for  pain  insist  far  too  much  upon 


'WKat  Is  Happiness  ?  323 

the  facts  of  its  priority.  A  pleasure,  they  say,  is 
only  an  aspiration,  or  a  satisfied  need.  But, 
the  lack  of  something  having  preceded  it,  a  lack 
being  always  painful,  proves  that  pain  had  the 
precedence. 

This  purely  byzantine  discussion,  even  though 
it  were  solved  in  favour  of  pain,  would  by  no  means 
give  the  victory  to  the  pessimists.  Our  progress 
consists  above  all  in  transforming  and  ameliorat- 
ing the  necessities  of  nature.  We  may  note, 
moreover,  that  certain  spontaneous  pleasures  are 
bom  and  develop  almost  outside  of  necessities. 
The  charm  of  an  unexpected  conversation,  the 
pleasant  intercourse  with  strangers,  a  profit 
realised  entirely  without  anticipation,  in  short,  the 
whole  vast  scale  of  pleasures  from  causes  foreign 
to  our  consciousness,  come  within  this  category. 

But  pleasure,  which  at  its  commencement  is  the 
expression  of  the  health  of  the  organism,  bears 
within  itself  the  germ  of  death  as  soon  as  we  abuse 
it.  There  is  a  threshold  of  appearances,  and  a 
threshold  of  disappearances  by  which  this  pleas- 
ure is  limited.  The  Epicureans  taught  that  in 
the  extreme  phase  of  its  ascent,  pleasure,  having 
become  exuberant  activity,  simultaneously  de- 
mands and  exhausts  all  the  resources  of  our 
existence. 


324         XKe  Science  of  Happiness 

Excess  of  pleasure  simply  destroys  the  condition 
of  pleasure.  Happiness  asks,  first  of  all,  the 
stability  that  pleasure  does  not  furnish.  Happi- 
ness adopts  pleasure,  but  pleasure  is  not  happiness. 

Besides,  as  we  have  stated,  the  cause,  or  if  we 
prefer,  the  foundation  of  pleasure  lies  in  our  vital 
energy.  The  health  of  the  body  and  of  the  mind, 
which  are  the  bases  of  happiness,  are  also  its 
essential  elements.  We  must  be.  happy  in  order 
to  feel  pleasure,  not  enjoy  pleasures  in  order  to  be 
happy. 

Pleasures  thus  become  mere  branches  of  a  liv- 
ing, deep-rooted  tree — happiness.  We  must  strive 
to  be  happy,  and  pleasures  will  come  voluntarily, 
like  the  grass  that  grows  under  the  beneficent 
influence  of  the  morning  dew. 

Vni.  In  following  the  gradation  of  pleasures, 
as  elements  constituting  happiness,  we  discover 
that  the  duration  and  the  extent  of  the  latter  de- 
pend, in  the  first  place,  upon  the  noble  character 
of  the  sources  from  which  these  pleasures  flow. 
Another  consideration  obtrudes  itself:  the  more 
exalted  and  rare  in  essence  the  happiness  is,  the 
more  accessible  it  is  to  us.  It  might  be  said  that, 
unlike  precious  stones,  beautiful  and  lasting  causes 
of  happiness  abound. 

Yet  how  is  it  that  there  should  be  so  few  people 


"WHat  Is  Happiness  ?  325 

who  are  really  happy?  It  is  because  we  lack  a 
school  of  happiness.  This  feeHng,  so  complex  in 
its  nature,  must  be  conquered.  What  is  more 
simple  than  the  cultivation  of  wheat?  Yet  a 
town-bred  man  would  not  know  how  to  make  the 
most  fertile  soil  yield  a  harvest.  We  understand 
that  to  know  how  to  appreciate  a  fine  book,  a 
pretty  piece  of  music,  a  preHminary  acquaintance 
is  requisite.  Offer  a  picture  by  Titian  to  a  savage, 
he  will  cut  it  in  pieces  or  use  it  to  Hght  a  wood 
fire.  A  simple-minded  soul,  to  whom  we  speak  of 
the  advantages  of  goodness,  of  happiness  through 
the  cultivation  of  the  beautiful,  of  the  joy  of 
friendship,  or  of  altruism,  is  doubtless  in  the  posi- 
tion of  the  savage  toward  the  masterpiece  of  a 
Titian. 

Happiness  must  be  taught,  as  we  teach  grammar, 
or  a  foreign  language.  Its  advantages  and  its 
weak  sides  must  be  seen,  especially  its  beauties 
and  its  unsuspected  treasures. 

When  the  education  and  the  comprehension  of 
happiness  have  forged  their  way,  we  shall  see  new 
generations  rise.  They  will  know  how  to  make 
our  existence  valued  at  its  true  worth,  and  will 
gather  the  joy  of  living  where  we  find  only  causes 
to  weep.  The  sources  of  happiness  which  we  so 
imprudently  squander  will  be  reconstituted,  and 


326  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

from  the  crumbs  which  we  let  fall,  millions  of 
famished  souls  will  be  fed. 

Conclusion 

I.  Life  imposes  upon  us  duties,  but  it  also 
gives  us  rights.  Too  much  has  been  said  of  the 
former,  while  the  latter  has  been  overlooked. 
We  have  not  understood  that,  by  harmonising 
the  burdens  and  the  pleasures  of  life,  we  render 
the  former  easier  and  the  latter  more  permanent. 
Happiness  is  the  fruit  of  the  union  between  the 
severe  commands  of  life  and  its  caresses. 

The  science  of  happiness  chiefly  proves  that  the 
real  happiness  of  the  individual  is  joined  with 
that  of  society.  An  isolated  happiness  is  as  un- 
stable as  would  be  the  fate  of  a  rich  man  amid 
neighbours  who  were  starving  to  death. 

Our  life  and  our  happiness  depend  in  the  first 
place  upon  ourselves,  for  everything  that  tends 
to  illuminate  our  existence  with  lasting  joy,  to 
render  it  beautiful  and  attractive,  is  found  within 
us. 

Genuine  happiness  consists  in  living  our  own 
life.  That  is  the  real,  intense  life,  of  which  so 
much  has  been  said  in  these  latter  days.  But, 
intense  life  is  only  the  omnipotent  desire  to  live 
and  to  live  happily.     Our  will  contains  inexhaust- 


W^Hat  Is  Happiness?  327 

ible  treasures  of  felicity,  and  toward  its  strength- 
ening, its  development,  and  the  enrichment  of 
its  contents,  a  life  conscious  of  its  aims  must 
tend. 

Happiness  thus  understood  is  first  of  all  in 
accord  with  morality,  for  it  finds  itself  in  complete 
harmony  with  the  noblest  social  aspirations. 

II.  The  more  we  reflect,  the  more  we  find  that 
happiness  is  exclusively  a  product  of  the  moral 
life.  Material  conditions  undoubtedly  contrib- 
ute to  it,  as  rain  and  fine  weather  increase  the 
fertihty  of  the  soil,  but  the  sky  can  do  nothing 
without  the  soil  itself. 

Personal  happiness  is  never  in  conflict  with 
social  happiness,  so  long  as  it  allows  itself  to  be 
guided  by  the  true  value  of  the  principles  of  life. 
It  is  the  conventional  conception,  elaborated 
through  the  centuries,  regarding  wealth,  envy,  the 
pleasures  or  the  domination  of  men,  which  makes 
us  seek  objects  contrary  to  social  prosperity. 

The  contradictions  which  are  visible  between 
individual  and  social  happiness  are  only  apparent. 
These  are  chiefly  due  to  a  superannuated  edu- 
cation whose  conventional  foundations  have  not 
changed  for  thousands  of  years.  When  this  edu- 
cation, better  directed,  has  transformed  our  ideas 
of  things,  certain  laws  will  become  superfluous,  as 


328  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

has  already  happened  to  certain  rules  of  hygiene  or 
of  public  decency. 

Therefore  we  shall  find  it  is  often  sufficient 
merely  to  perceive  genuine  happiness,  to  bring 
it  shining  among  us. 

The  contradictions  between  our  egotism  or  our 
interest  and  that  of  our  environment,  it  is  true, 
do  not  cease  to  sadden  us.  We  deplore  their 
fatal  hostility,  and  go  so  far  as  to  conceive  doubts 
of  the  possibility  of  a  better  humanity. 

But  we  forget  that  it  is  not  our  real  interest 
which  causes  so  much  evil,  but  our  incapacity  to 
comprehend  our  real  interest. 

We  ought  to  move  toward  and  to  realise  happi- 
ness. This  aspiration  of  our  souls  acting  within 
us  permanently,  we  must  render  its  object  loftily 
moral  in  order  to  have  our  life,  in  its  turn,  ennobled 
and  dignified  in  its  essence. 

There  is  a  pedagogy  of  happiness,  and  its 
possibilities  are  infinite.  Given  the  appetite  for 
happiness,  this  pedagogy  will  create  the  most 
efficacious  means  of  becoming  happy.  Among 
other  precepts  it  will  implant  in  the  human  mind 
that  it  is  not  wishes  fulfilled,  but  duties  accom- 
plished, which  most  surely  and  most  easily  procure 
happiness. 

Our  morality  and  our  Hfe,  being  restored  to 


WKat  Is  Happiness?  329 

their  real  sources,  guided  and  inspired  by  an 
instinctive  and  innate  necessity  which  hovers  as 
sovereign  lord  above  the  ages  and  the  vague 
humanities,  will  find  themselves  for  that  very 
reason  solidified  and  endowed  with  a  vitality  that 
bids  defiance  to  the  doubts  and  the  paralysis  of 
our  intellect. 

I  will  go  further.  MoraHty,  thus  conceived,  will 
answer  to  a  sort  of  categorical  imperative,  not 
transcendental,  after  the  method  of  Kant,  but 
human  and  operating  within  the  Hmits  of  our 
faculties.  When  we  disobey  the  morality  of 
happiness,  we  disobey,  at  the  same  time,  the  ex- 
igencies of  life.  We  diminish  our  own  personality 
and  condemn  ourselves  to  a  slow  suicide. 

This  morality  is  thus  united  to  the  fate  of 
man  by  indissoluble  bonds,  bonds  of  flesh  and  of 
aspiration,  of  the  body  and  of  the  soul. 

We  need  only  transfer  the  ideas  of  the  sublime 
consciousness  into  the  unconsciousness,  and  hap- 
piness, vivified  and  ennobled  by  the  Force-Ideas, 
will  offer  us  the  most  human  of  moralities. 

III.  Everything  warrants  the  belief  that  the 
human  race  is  moving  through  the  ages,  towards  a 
juster  appreciation  of  the  object  and  the  essence 
of  Hfe. 

Human  perfectibiHty  is  without  limits.     When 


330  TKe  Science  of  Happiness 

we  think  that  beings  like  Jesus  Christ,  Buddha, 
Zarathustra,  or  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  were 
born  in  environments  filled  with  vice  and  moral 
corruption,  we  feel  almost  dazzled  by  the  idea  of 
those  who  will  come  into  the  world  as  products 
of  our  more  and  more  social  and  altruistic  civil- 
isation. The  action  of  these  highly  gifted  souls 
has  deeply  impressed  human  beings  and  has 
changed  their  lives  and  their  ideals.  A  few  more 
personalities  of  this  elevation  of  mind  and  of 
heart,  and  our  moral  conceptions  will  rise  many 
degrees.  According  to  Herbert  Spencer,  human 
evolution  will  some  day  lead  us  to  such  a  height, 
that  moral  conduct  will  be  instinctive  and  will 
dispense  with  all  constraint.  After  all,  moral 
life,  with  its  endless  extent,  lends  itself  better  to 
change  than  do  certain  physiological  peculiarities. 
Yet  Burbank  has  succeeded  in  growing  cacti 
without  thorns  and  plums  without  stones.  Have 
we  not  now  numerous  varieties  of  thornless  roses? 
Let  us  have  faith  in  the  triumph  of  men  who  will 
know  how  to  rid  themselves  some  day  of  the  pre- 
tences which  destroy  the  joy  of  living. 

Teachers  of  oecological  botany  show  us  how, 
under  the  influence  of  Alpine  or  Polar  climates, 
annuals  are  transformed  into  biennial  or  perennial 
species.     What  will  men  develop  into  under  the 


WHat  I5  Happiness?  331 

influence  of  the  new  moral  currents  which  are 
visibly  appearing  on  the  horizon? 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  find  in  the  blind 
a  sixth  sense,  the  sense  of  obstacles.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  we  all  have  within  us  the  sense  of 
happiness,  but  it  is  closely  hidden  in  the  depths 
of  our  being;  it  is  distorted  and  covered  by  a 
deposit  of  artificial  feelings. 

Let  us  endeavour  to  release  it  from  these;  let 
us  restore  it  to  its  proper  position  by  destroy- 
ing the  prejudices  which  stifle  and  prevent  its 
manifestation. 

Above  all,  let  us  educate  it.  Some  day,  the 
sense  of  happiness,  bursting  forth  in  the  plenitude 
of  its  powers,  will  transform  the  moral  universe. 

IV.  Therefore,  let  us  not  despair  of  individual 
and  collective  happiness.  Both  have  extremely 
deep  roots.  Auxiliaries  are  coming  to  them  from 
all  directions.  The  world  has  become  more  kindly 
to  us,  and  its  mysterious  forces  are  rendering 
themselves  the  slaves  of  man.  He  understands 
and  utilises  them  better.  The  Infinite,  subjected 
to  rigorous  laws,  seems  to  be  more  friendly.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  less  threatening.  We  are  taking 
possession  more  and  more  of  the  earth,  and  even 
of  the  air.  Discounting,  in  advance,  the  duration 
of  our  stay  on  earth,  we  desire  it  to  be  equitable. 


332  THe  Science  of  Happiness 

Brutal  conquests  are  daily  becoming  more  repug- 
nant to  us.  Man's  purified  conscience  is  opposed 
to  the  unjust  spoliations  committed  to  the  detri- 
ment of  his  brothers.  On  the  earth,  whose  crust 
has  been  hardened  and  rendered  solid  by  the 
ages,  we  aspire  to  a  life  governed  by  stable  laws, 
and  not  by  the  caprices  of  Force. 

Sociology  only  raises  our  hopes.  Progress, 
like  the  divine  artist  of  Homer,  engraves  upon  the 
brass  of  time  scenes  of  peace  and  of  happiness.  A 
gentle  and  smiling  fairy  appears  to  preside  over 
the  human  destinies  of  the  future. 

We  are  daily  more  respectful  toward  one  another. 
Our  dignity  is  ascending  step  by  step,  as  well  as 
our  sentiments  of  justice  and  of  truth.  There 
are  more  joy  and  sympathy  on  our  planet.  Sorrow 
seems  to  be  weaker.  Some  day  mankind  will 
shelter  in  its  bosom,  with  the  same  love,  the 
children  of  every  colour  and  of  every  creed. 

Meanwhile,  half  the  human  race,  namely  the 
women,  are  profiting  by  more  equity.  From  the 
rank  of  the  slaves  of  man,  or  of  inferior  beings,  we 
behold  them  elevated  to  the  level  of  his  equals. 

The  State  is  multiplying  its  duties  and  perform- 
ing them  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner.  It  is 
becoming  reconciled  to  the  principle  of  equality. 
It  is  more  attentive  to  the  voice  of  Justice.     It  is 


WKat  Is  Happiness?  333 

urging,  in  any  case,  a  more  and  more  equitable 
distribution  of  burdens  and  of  duties. 

Thought  descends  into  the  huts  of  the  disin- 
herited to  bring  caressing  dreams.  The  hope  of 
earthly  salvation  fills  our  hearts.  This  hope 
rests  mainly  upon  Solidarity  and  her  companion, 
Goodness,  which  some  day  will  take  possession 
of  our  planet.  These  anticipations  gladden  the 
life  of  collective  mankind,  as  the  hope  of  success 
and  of  happiness  animates  individually  almost  all 
its  members. 

Have  I  succeeded  in  establishing  the  possibility 
and  the  benefits  of  the  Science  of  Happiness  ?  My 
attempt  is  doubtless  imperfect.  So  be  it.  Do  we 
condemn  painting  because  an  unskilful  artist 
gives  an  inadequate  idea  of  beaut}^?  After  me, 
or  along  with  me,  others  will  succeed  far  better 
in  achieving  the  triumph  of  the  thesis  which  I 
hold  dear.  I  will  add  that  they  will  not  be  capable 
of  loving  it  more  ardently.  .  .  . 


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Amer.  Med,  Ass'n.y  Feb.  22,  1908.  , 

25.— The  World's  Gold.     By  L.  de  Launay,    Professor  at  the  Ecole 

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26. — The  Interpretation  of  Radium.      By  Frederick  Soddy,  Lecturer 
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28. — The  Origin  of  Life.     Being  an  Account  of  Experiments  with  Certain 
Superheated  Saline  Solutions  in  Hermetically  Sealed  Vessels.     By  II. 
Charlton  Bastian,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Emeritus  Professor  of  the  Princi- 
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micrographs.    Net,  $1.50.  '^ 
'*  This  most  noteworthy  and  compelling  book     .      .      .      The  question — both  as   to 
the  supposed  origin  of  life  once  and  for  all,  and  also  as  to   .he  supposed   impassable  gap 
of  to-day — is  surpassed  in  interest  by  iiothiig  in  the  whole  range  of  physical  sciences;  if, 
indeed,  there  be  any  to  equal  it  wheth.  r  in  interest  or  in  moment  for  o-.ir  philoscphv  " 

The  Morning  PosL 


29. — The  Bacillus  of  Long  Life. 

A  Manual  of  the  Preparation  and  Souring  of  Milk  for  Dietary  Pur« 
poses;  Together  with  an  Historical  Account  of  the  Use  of  Fermented 
Milks  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day,  and  their  Wonder- 
ful Effect  in  the  Prolonging  of  Human  Existence.  By  LouDON  M. 
Douglas,  F.R.S.E.     8vo.     With  56  Illustrations.     $1.50  net. 

This  book  has  been  designed  with  a  view  to  meet  an  extensive  demand  for  aefinite 
data  on  the  subject  of  Soured  Milks.  The  author  has  had  this  matter  brought  be^^ore 
him,  times  without  number,  by  those  inquiring  for  authentic  information  on  the  £_  bject, 
and  he  has  therefore  considered  it  desirable  to  gather  together  such  information  as  u. 
-available  in  connection  with  ancient  and  modern  practice.  He  has  endeavored  to  pre. 
sent  this  to  the  reader  in  concise  form. 

30. — The  Social  Evil. 

With  Special  Reference  to  Conditions  Existing  in  the  City  of  New 
York.     A  Report  Prepared  in   1902  under  the  Direction  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen.    Second  Edition,  Revised,  with  New  Material  Cover- 
ing the  years  1902-1911.     Edited  by  Edwin  R.  A.  Seltgman,  LL.D., 
McVickar    Professor   of   Political  Economy   in   Columbia  University. 
8vo.     $1.75  net. 
A  study  that  is  far  from  being  of  merely  local  interest  and  application.     The  prob- 
lem is  considered  in  all  its  aspects  and.   for  this  purpose,   reference  has  beenraadeto 
conditions  prevailinc;  in  other  communities  and   to  the  different  attempts  foreign  cities 
have  made  to  regu.ate  vice. 

31. — Microbes  and  Toxins. 

By  EriKNNE  Burni.t,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  Paris.     With  an  In- 
troduction by  Elie  Metchnikoff,  Sub-Director  of  the  Pasteur  Institute, 
Paris.     With  about  71  Illustrations.     $2.co  net. 
A  well-known  English  authority  said  m  recommending  the  volume:  "  Incomparably 
the  best  book  there  is  on  this  tremendously  important   subject.      In   fact,    I   am  assured 
that  nothing  exists  which  gives  anythin-^  like  so  full  a  study  of  microbiology'."      In  the 
volume  are  considered  the  general  functions  of  microbes,   the  microbes  of  the  human 
system,  the  form  and  structure  of  microbes,  the  physiology  of  microbes,   the  pathogenic 
protozoa,  toxins,  tuberculin  and  mallein,  immunity,  applications  of  bacteriology,  vaccines 
and  serums,  chemical  remedies,  etc. 

32. — Problems  of  Life  and  Reproduction, 

By  Marcus  Hartog,  D.   Sc  ,    Professor  of  Zoology  in  University 

College,  Cork.  8vo.  $2.50  net. 
The  author  uses  all  the  legitimate  arms  of  scientific  controversy  in  assailing  certain 
views  that  have  been  widely  pressed  on  the  general  public  with  an  assurance  that  must 
have  given  many  the  impression  that  they  were  protected  by  the  universal  concensus  of 
biologists.  Among  the  subjects  considered  are:  "The  Cellular  Pedigree  and  the  Prob- 
lem of  Hereditv  ";  "  The  Relation  of  Brood-Formation  to  Ordinary  Cell-Division "; 
"  The  New  Force,  Mitokinetism  ";  "  Nuclear  Reduction  and  the  Function  of  Chroism  '*; 
•■  Fertilization  ";  "  The  Transmission  of  Acquired  Characters";  Mechanism  and  Life"; 
"The  Biolojical  Writings  of  Samuel  Butler^";  "Interpolation  in  Memory";  "The 
Teaching  of  Nature_Study." 

33.— Problems  of  the  Sexes. 

By  Jean  Finot,  Author  of  *'  The  Science  of  Happiness,"  etc.     Trans- 
lated under  authority  by  Mary  J.  Safford.     8vo.     $2.00  net. 

A  masterly  presentation  of  the  attitude  of  the  ages  toward  women  and  an  eloquent 
plea  for  her  further  enfranchisement  from  imposed  and  unnatural  limitations.  The 
range  of  scholarship  that  has  been  enlisted  in  the  writing  may  well  excite  one|s  wonder, 
but  the  tone  of  the  book  is  popular  and  its  appeal  Is  not  to  any  small  section  of^  the 
reading  public  but  to  all  the  classes  and  degrees  of  an  age  that,  from  present  indications, 
will  go  down  in  history  as  the  century  of  Woman. 

34.— The  Positive  Evolution  of  Religion, 

Its  Moral  and  Social  Reaction.  By  Frederic  HARRISON.  Svo, 
$2  00  net. 
The  author  has  undertaken  to  estimate  the  moral  and  social  reaction  of  various 
forms  of  Religion— beginning  with  Nature  Worship,  Polytheism,  Catholicism,  Prot- 
estantism, and  Deism.  The  volume  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  final  word,  the  sum. 
m-iry  of  the  celebrated  author's  philosophy— a  systematic  study  of  the  entire  religiou* 
problem. 


35. — The  Primitive  Family  as  an  Educational  Agency.    By  Arthur 

James  Todd,  Ph.D.,  of  the  Department  of  Sociology,  University  of 

Illinois.     8^     Net,  $1.75. 

From  widely  scattered  sources — travels,  ethnoijraphy,  folk-lore,  studies  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  law,  morals,  etc.,  and  personal  observation— the  author  has  collected  evidence 
on  such  problems  as  the  economic  basis  of  family  life,  the  position  of  the  wife,  promis- 
cuity, group-marriage,  divorce,  sex  taboos,  procreation  myths,  the  couvade;  primitive, 
moral,  and  vocational  instruction;  initiations,  puberty  ceremonies,  etc.  The  fact  that 
much  of  primitive  education  was  genuine  social  education  is  strongly  emphasized.  One 
of  the  most  fascinating  parts  of  the  book  traces  the  varying  sense  of  relationship  between 
child  and  parent:  now  he  is  related  to  his  mother,  now  to  his  father,  and  only  in  later 
times  to  both. 

36.— The  Belief  in  Personal  Immortality.  By  E.  S.  P.  Haynes,  Author 
of  "  Religious  Persecution,"  '*  Divorce  Problems  of  To-Day,"  etc. 
12°.     Net,  $1.25. 

It  is  at  once  an  historical  survey  of  the  beliefs  held  in  various  ages  and  by  various 
peoples  and  an  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  the  arguments  advanced.  The  author  con- 
siders: (i)  the  primitive  origins  of  the  belief  in  dreams,  ghosts,  revelations,  and  what  is 
called  animism;  (2)  the  ancient  and  medieval  conceptions  of  immortality  as  an  ethical 
necessity,  which  is  part  of  a  scheme  of  divine  justice;  and  (3)  the  more  modern  concep- 
tion of  immortality  as  a  desirable  development  of  personal  activities  and  affections. 
Having  traced  the  history  of  the  belief  in  immortality,  the  author  takes  up  for  consider- 
ation the  present  status  of  such  belief  and  arguments  advanced  in  its  support,  and  the 
bearing  of  modern  science  and  thought  thereon. 

37. — Sex  Antagonism.  By  Walter  Heape,  M.A.,  F.R.S.  8°.  Net, 
$1.50. 

The  author  traces  the  age-old  struggle  for  supremacy  between  the  masculine  and  the 
feminine  elements  in  society,  and  shows  that  to  the  domination  now  of  one,  now  of  the 
other,  are  traceable  some  of  the  world's  most  fundamental  institutions  and  social  princi- 
ples. Walter  Heape  is  a  biologist,  and  it  is  from  the  biological  standpoint  that  he  has 
approached  the  subject.  The  book  is  one  which  has  a  vital  bearing  not  only  upon  certain 
theories  of  anthropology;  in  an  equal  degree  it  must  be  taken  into  account  if  an  intelli- 
gent grasp  is  desired  of  all  the  implications  and  issues  involved  in  the  present  agitation 
for  sex  equality. 


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